Better Suited
by Knower89
Summary: Mr.Briggs decided he didnt want to write it anymore and I couldn't stand for that so here it is again. I am sticking to most of the story but i will take license when i feel i need to. Basically Hermione and Ron abandon Harry at the start of fourth year. After Harry is sent back to Dursleys and all hell breaks loose. Hermione Loves Harry and wants back in his life. More inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: **Hello Guys, I know I am a new writer on fan fiction but this story is not new but it was very popular. If you guys remember **Mr. Briggs**, he wrote 3 stories; **The Boy Who Lived, Not The BOY-WHO-Lived, House Rules, **and two different versions of** Better Suited**. You will also notice the neither he nor his stories are on the site anymore. But fear not, he is a friend of mine and I have been given the stories to do with them what I will. I am not sure about House Rules or The Boy Who Lived, because I see myself as more of a short story/one shot writer myself, (**FYI if anyone wants those stories to continue please PM me you can have them) **but as you can see I will be taking both versions of better suited and putting them together (**somewhat) **and continuing the story. I can tell you that with the story and all of the notes he gave me, plus my own spin that I want to put on the story it will be long, but where he did not finish I intend to.

So general premise;

Hermione and Ron abandon Harry after his name is chosen for the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Neville becomes his close and only friend the entire year.

Dumbledore sends him back to the Durselys again after Cedrics death. Then all hell proceeds to break loose.

Hermione loves Harry and wants him back as a friend and more.

Dumbledore is revealed for what he really is and so is Severus Snape.

New wands and Familiars.

New allies and enemies.

New and improved, self-aware, non-whinny depressed Harry Potter.

That pretty much sums up what I want to tell you about how my version is going to go. I was upset with Mr. Briggs for putting the brakes on this story because I think it is really good and should continue, and so it shall.

Happy Reading!

**Better Suited**

"You cannot be serious!" Harry nearly jumped out of his chair in the headmaster's office.

"I am afraid so Harry," Dumbledore as patient in tone as ever replied to the disgruntled teenager, "I assure you it is best that you not only return to your relatives home this summer but you stay there the entire holiday."

Dumbledore finished his sentence with a tone that made something in Harry snap. The air of finality with which he spoke, the lilt that came at the end of every sentence even when it was delivering hellish news incensed him. That ceaselessly irritating twinkle in the man's eye that always made Harry think he was about to have a seizure when he looked his headmaster in the face made him crazy.

"I won't go." Harry said gritting his teeth trying not to yell, his hands were gripping the sides of is hair so hard that his knuckles where turning white. He didn't know if the room was shaking or he was, all he could think about was what he went through last year and this man telling him he had to go back to those damned relatives.

"I assure you, Harry you will. As your magical guardian it is my job to make sure you are safe and..."

"Safe! Do I need to show you the scars that are all over my body again?" Harry stood up as he protested. "They wouldn't care if I was alive or dead, and Uncle Vernon would probably assist with the latter! You say you send me there for safety, last year they tried to kill me! How is that safe?"

Dumbledore looked at tad bit irritated. This isn't how it is supposed to be going; Harry should be so depressed he should just take everything he said as law and move on. Harry should've been happy that Dumbledore was taking the time to tell him this face to face. The death of Cedric along with having no friends except Longbottom should've broke the boys back. He shouldn't have any fight in him at the moment.

"Harry you're just excited right now. Trust me once you calm down I'm sure you'll realize that this is what is best for you." He said a little more sternly.

"Don't you tell me about what is best for me," Harry banged on Dumbledore's desk, knocking over a few of the old man's knickknacks. "Trolls, Basilisks, Dementors, Tournaments, Fake Teachers, Voldemort three times! Now you want to send me back to those people, I had to visit the hospital wing for three weeks when we returned. "

"Harry restrain yourself!" Dumbledore took out his wand attempting to repair the damage. "These things are important."

"Oh I'm sorry." Harry said purposefully breaking a few more things. "I watch a classmate die, I get tortured, my blood was stolen leaving me with a mark just as good as the bloody Death Eaters, and then I was kidnapped by your fake teacher. I'm so very sorry that a couple of your bloody gadgets got destroyed while I am trying to deal with it all."

Dumbledore waved his wand at Harry binding him to the chair. He then stepped from behind his chair to stand right in front of the boy who was glaring at him.

"Listen to me, I know things are bad for you right now, but please try not to blame your incidents on me Harry." Dumbledore starred the boy in the eyes. "You were told first year just like every other student in the school to go to your common room when the troll incident was announced. You took it upon yourself to take one of your friends and go looking for someone in the girls lavatory. The teachers would have eventually…"

"Would have eventually found a dead body in the loo and another ghost to match Myrtle," Harry interrupted. "Ron and I barely got there in time and by the time you got there the troll was already dead. What would you have done that wouldn't have been after the fact?"

Dumbledore looked taken back, he was not use to being challenged like that. "That is beyond the point it was not your responsibility it was ours and I do believe we would have arrived on time. You were also told to stay away from the third floor under threat of death. You followed the snake, no one told you to."

"To stop Quirrell from getting the stone, he was already at the mirror and none of you even had a clue about what was going on." Harry interrupted again.

"The mirror was a failsafe, you said yourself he couldn't get the mirror to give him the stone." The headmaster retorted. "And I knew that, it was my plan and my responsibility to hid the stone and it was hidden well."

"You truly believe he wouldn't have found a way? He found a way into another body, he found his way into this castle, he found his way passed all of the other traps that had been laid, as did a group of first years, and yet you believe that the last thing standing in his way would have stopped him?"

"Enough of this! I am your headmaster and you will show me the proper respect. " Dumbledore boomed his magic flaring out from him . "You are talking about this for which you do not have full understanding and making yourself look foolish and immature. The point is that multiple times you have put your life and the lives of others in danger unnecessarily. You rush into things and do not think about the full picture, if you had I assure you that you would've had an easier life here! DO not blame others for your misgivings."

Dumbledore composed himself standing up straight and resuming his grandfatherly stature. "I know things are bad at your relatives and I will send them a letter letting them know it won't be tolerated. You will be going back and staying the whole summer; you will not be leaving be it knight bus or any other contraption. This is the best solution for you. Things will be easier for you now and in life if you just listen to what I am telling you. Now please go and gather your things as you will be leaving soon." There was no doubt that statement was final. He released Harry and opened the door with a flick of his wand. He turned his back to Harry and went about fixing his things. All Harry could do was huff and storm out of the office.

Harry took a deep sigh and steeled himself as he walked back into the Gryffindor common room. He was greeted with a coldness that he had to fight to get use to this year. In years past the students would gawk and stare but their eyes held and awe for him; but now his pride, his lions, his like-minded students held no awe just contempt. Ever since his name had come out of that God forsaken cup making him compete in that outlandish tournament, almost every Potterite at Howgarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had done an about face. His own house was the worst, so much for house loyalty, but then no one ever said Gryffindors were loyal they weren't Hufflepuffs.

But that wasn't what hurt the most. His "best" friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley had completely abandoned him. Ron's reason was simple enough, he thought Harry found a way around the age line and entered his name in the tournament. He believed Harry was so greedy and hungry for fame that he would do anything to get more. Ron was tired of playing second fiddle to Harry Potter. He was sick of Harry walking around like he was better than everyone and he wouldn't have Ronald Weasley to step on anymore. This was by no means a guess of how Ron felt; it was exactly what Ron had told Harry the night of his selection. It was also the last thing he had said to Harry face to face, everything else came not so discreetly behind the boys' back.

Ron had managed to turn almost all the Gryffindors against Harry, every lie he told they seemed to eat up, but then no one said Gryffindors were smart they weren't Ravenclaws. The only allies he had in his own house was Neville and the Weasley Twins. Harry suspected the twins were only there because they had numerous bets at outrageous odds on his performance in the tournament.

Ron didn't stop his smear campaign at the Lion house, he would go to other houses and try and get them to see him in a bad light, especially the Hufflepuff house, telling them that he was stealing the fame from Cedric. He would call Harry stupid and tell people he had to help him with his homework every night. Ron even went so far as to recreate the Chamber of Secrets mission saying the he, Ronald Weasley, was the brains behind the operation and used a spell to disarm Lockhart and told Harry how to kill the Basilisk, as if he knew. Though most of what Ron said wasn't believed, the students knew Ron was dumb as a rock and couldn't even finish his own work let alone help others, they also knew that second year Ron's wand was a deadly weapon not against whomever it was pointed, but whoever was holding it. They had seen numerous spells backfire on Ron the whole year. A majority of students went along with him though because they all stood firmly behind Cedric and needed a reason not to like Harry.

The deepest pain he felt from his school mates came from Hermione Granger who, unlike Ron, had chosen to completely ignore him. No talks, no hugs, no concerned rants, no help when he was looking for ways to stay alive. If she was in a room and he came in she would leave. There were times when he would be cornered being yelled and screamed at by the other students and she would pass by as if nothing was happening.

Harry had never trusted anyone as much as Hermione, he had not confided in or sought comfort in anyone the way he did Hermione and it seemed as if her tolerance of him had run out. Down deep he always believed he wasn't worthy of true friends and early this year when the only people he believed were his friends dropped him like a bad habit and apparently hadn't looked back, his beliefs were verified.

Deep down he wanted to give up and let not competing in the second task take his magic away from him but his silver lining came in the form of Neville Longbottom. Neville was the one that, if Voldemort had chosen, could've taken the cup from Harry and bore it himself. Neville proved himself a true friend and a very good ally to have in times of trouble. It was Neville who listened when Harry needed someone to talk to. It was Neville who spent hours in the library and study rooms with Harry to prepare him for the tasks at hand. It was Neville who took the ridicule and the punishment for standing firmly behind Harry Potter at every turn this year and showed no signs of wavering in his loyalty.

Of course it would be Neville, they were much alike. He lost his parents too and although his Grandmother didn't abuse Neville like the Dursley's did Harry, she still was very hard on him trying to fit him into the mold of Frank Longbottom which wasn't Neville's niche. He would listen to Neville talk about how much he wanted to please his Gran but he never seemed to live up to her expectations. Something Harry understood in a way, all he ever heard was how much he was like his father, especially from Snape, and how much his mother's eyes were his equals. He was compared to people he only knew for a short while but no one ever gave him anything concrete about his parents. No one ever said, "You're just like your father because you two both…" or" You are the spitting image of your parents because you did 'blank' just like them." All Harry ever got was token compliments or in Snapes case token insults. So though he and Neville had different issues they weren't very far apart at all. Neville was his saving grace that year and for that Harry would always be grateful. It was that same Neville Longbottom that was waiting when Harry entered the dorm room. He could tell that things had not gone well.

"So I am guessing I will be addressing my letters to Privet Drive?" Neville said with a sympathetic smile.

"Ravenclaw really missed out on one when you were sorted." Harry angrily replied to his friend flopping down on his bed hard.

"Yeah but they were sparred with you." Neville replied getting up and going over to him.

Harry rolled his eyes but a small smile crept to the corners of his lips. Neville had been trying very hard this year to get Harry to relax. He, like many people had seen firsthand how moody Harry could be. Harry while hanging out with Neville learned how blunt the boy could be.

On many occasions when Harry had begun to whine, or complain, or even overreact and get himself in trouble by reacting to other students Neville was the one who retrained him. Many times he told Harry to "Grow Up" or "Act like the Gryffindor you're supposed to be, or whining about it isn't gonna exempt you from having to deal with it." Neville was glad to do anything to help Harry but he wasn't going to sit around and listen to him complain all day every day and he wasn't going to be the victim of his temper either. Harry because of this had become a lot less moody and reactionary than he had been in previous years, something that had sparred him numerous detentions with his teachers, especially Snape.

"I packed the rest of your stuff Harry; I figured it would be bad news."

Harry raised his eyebrow, "Why did you figure that?"

"When it's you or me, you expect bad news and let the good news surprise you." Both the boys laughed.

"Let's get on the train Neville, we have stuff to talk about and I'd rather not do it here." Both the boys grabbed their trunks and made their way to the train ignoring all the dirty looks they received on the way.

When they got to the train they were some of the first students to board, and they quickly found a compartment. Neville locked the door with his wand but he could not put up the illusion charms even though he tried.

Harry did it for him. "Please talk to your Gran about your own wand Neville, it has to fit you and this one clearly doesn't. I've seen it, the professors have seen it. You do the wand motions correctly, Flitwick checked your magic levels and yours are higher than most, it has to be the wand."

Neville rolled his eyes, he had heard this all before. "You must have that speech memorized by now Harry. You know as well as I do that until I turn fifteen my Gran has total say over my affairs. When I turn fifteen I get to take over my majority because I am the last heir in my house. Then I will get my own, until then the only way to get a new one is if something happens to this one and I am NOT going to break my father's wand. So for the last time drop it!"

Harry held up his hands in defeat. Either way by next term Neville would have a new wand so he wouldn't bother him about it anymore. "Nev, I need you to talk to your Gran about checking into just how much power Dumbledore has over me and what constitutes willful neglect. I showed him the scars and he is sending me back anyway. There has to be a reason but I don't know yet what it is."

"It is at the top of my list this summer Harry." He replied instantly. "The old man is playing at something with you and I don't like it. Four straight years your life has been threatened inside this school. Then you are forced to go back to abuse. There is nothing in the world that coincidental, either he wants you dead or he simply isn't opposed to having you dead."

"It might not be as bad as all that." Harry said

"Yeah and Snape's hair isn't flammable." Neville rolled his eyes. "Don't discount the obvious because of reputation. Just because someone has done great things doesn't mean they're good people."

"Well the one thing I can say about this summer is I won't have to worry about people glaring at me or trying to curse me."

Neville went into his bag and handed Harry some books. "You may be left alone but you have work to do. You have been in the Wizard world for four years now and you are abysmal at best on our customs and history. I couldn't get as much information in about this as I wanted to this year because we were just working on keeping your scrawny butt alive. But if you want to live in our world and do it well then you need to catch up."

Harry took the books. "Yes Professor Longbottom" Then he ducked the book that come flying at his head.

"Pick that one up and read it too, bloody tosser." Neville took out his book on plants and started to read.

Boarding the train at that time was Hermione Granger, a thinner, worry laden version of Hermione Granger. She looked tired and it in no way compared to how she felt. This year had been the most distressing yet of her time at Hogwarts even though she had been in the least amount of danger. She had, as many others had, presumed that Harry had indeed gotten himself entered in the tournament. Her faith in rules and fair play had managed to convince her that if he really didn't enter there would have to be some sort of way he could've gotten out of it. But he competed and won, unnecessary bollocks if you asked her. He had faced deathly stuff for the sake of others but to do it for fame, that's just unintelligent. That was the story she liked to use to calm herself when the reality of why she had abandoned Harry set in. But when she was alone, which was most of the time because aside for this year she spent most of her time with Harry, the real reasons came to her.

When she needed a hug and there was no one else around that could sense it, or when she was in the library working herself to death and no one pulled her aside and made her take a break, then she thought of the real reason. She could lose Harry for good. At least one person in the last twenty tournaments had died and all three in the last five had died. So the odds were pretty good someone would not make it all the way through and the track record of Harry Potter made the odds of him being the one almost a guarantee. In the deepest part of her heart she knew she loved and was in love with Harry Potter, but she just could not stand watching it, she would not be a part of it. She figured the distance she put between them would make the pain lessen, but no one told Hermione Granger that absence makes the heart grow fonder. She heard and saw all the people at the school turn on him, she saw him protest and fight and rebel against those that said he had entered himself in the tournament. On a deep level inside her mind she believed him. After coming out of the maze and learning all that had happened she knew she had to get back to Harry. Voldemort was back and she knew he was coming after Harry and she needed to help him, she needed to be near him, she needed him.

As she found a compartment she loaded her stuff and was just about to lock the door when Ron stuck his head in. There was no one in the world she wanted to see less than him. Apparently Ronald Weasley had taken a liking to her, a thought which made her gag, and he was trying really hard to get her attention. She didn't understand it at all, the previous three years he had been at the very least rude to her. He constantly insulted and berated her arguing or picking a fight whenever he could. He would only be nice when he wanted answers to his homework. They had never been close and she really didn't even like him, the only reason she put up with him was because Harry liked him and she would bare almost anything to be at Harry's side.

She had told Ron one day when he had gotten bold and tried to kiss her that next time he tried his luck with her she would hex his mouth so that he could never open it again. She told him that she didn't like him in 'any way' especially romantically, and that she only tolerated him because of Harry and since Ron was not talking to Harry there was no reason for her to talk to him. One would think that would be enough for even someone as thick headed as Ron to get the point but he didn't. She had to hex him a few times this year.

"Hi" Ron said meekly as he slid open the door.

"You know that we have nothing to say to each other Ronald. Please leave." She sat down and started to go through her bag to find a book to read.

"Ah, come on Mione we have been friends for years, are you really going to stop that just because we had a misunderstanding."

"If you think trying to force yourself on me after multiple warnings is a misunderstanding, or embarrassing me and insulting my date at the ball is a misunderstanding, or depending on me to fix or even in some cases just do your homework for you is a misunderstanding then we have a problem. If you think putting up with the cruel way you treat me when I am not saving your butt is just a misunderstanding, then all our friendship has ever been if just one big misunderstanding." She smiled to herself as she put her book down and rose from her seat to walk over to the gob smacked red head.

"Thankfully though Ronald it is a misunderstanding that is easily corrected. We are no longer friends, we are no longer acquaintances, and we were never going to be a couple. All we are is housemates and with me not doing your homework for you next term we might not even be that. Good-bye Ronald."

She moved to close the door but the now infuriated red head forced it back open. "Just who the bloody hell do you think you are? I am a pureblood Granger, that may not mean something to you but it does in this society. If you hadn't noticed I am your only friend especially since you dropped scar head. Without me you are alone, no one else tolerates you, you bookworm know-it-all! I put up with you because you were smart and not bad looking, the only one who really cared about you was Potter and you abandoned him. All you did just now was guarantee you revert right back to first year when you were in the bathroom crying by yourself because you had no friends and someone made fun of you. And you want to know the thing that is different this time? The one person who came looking for you, he won't come this time because you abandoned him. Have a nice life Hermione." Ronald slammed the door and left Hermione alone.

The rest of the train ride Hermione was so upset she cried. Ron even though he was an arse about it was completely correct, what she had done was effectively leave herself alone. She was distraught, not only because she had abandoned him but that she had been cruel about it. She needed to make it up to Harry, not just so she wouldn't be alone but she realized without him even if she was the most popular person at school she would still be alone. She needed Harry and she would do whatever she had to do to get him back.

When the train stopped and the kids got off Hermione spotted Harry and Neville and she, although tentative, walked over to them. Neville saw her coming and elbowed Harry to alert him. Harry looked over towards her and they locked eyes. In her eyes Harry saw a hint of regret. In his eyes Hermione saw a look of hurt and distain for her that almost stopped her him her tracks.

She called out for him. "Harry, Harry, wait please!" But he acted as though he didn't hear her. He wouldn't even look back at her as she yelled. Before she could reach him he had gone through the barrier. When she got to where he was when she spotted him only Neville stood there. His look was not sympathetic at all.

"Didn't he hear me?" She asked him out of breath.

"When he told you he didn't enter the tournament did you hear him?" He glared at her. "When the kids at school cursed him and screamed at him did you hear them? When he would call out for you to talk to him all year did you hear him then?"

Hermione could do nothing but lower her head in shame.

"Seems we hear what we want to hear Hermione." With one parting glare he walked away from the girl.

Hermione was a complete mess as she walked through the barrier towards her parents. Her mother reached her first and tried to comfort her but nothing she did seemed to work. When she asked what was wrong her daughter wouldn't answer her. All Hermione kept saying was, "I ruined everything."

**A/N: Alright So, I added a little bit to this one.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Better Suited**

Harry sat in his room at his desk in Number 4 starring out the window but at nothing in particular. It had been a week since he had returned there after the grand fiasco that was his fourth year at Hogwarts. He had been having a lot of trouble sleeping, the new mark on his forearm from Snake Face at times during the last week hurt as much as his scar. The scar seemed to react to the mark and vice versa, he was experiencing pain like he had only felt in the graveyard less than a month earlier. There were times when the pain was connected to a vision or a dream but there were other times when the pain would just come. Harry could not help but believe that this mark on his arm was more than just a knife scar. He began to think that it was an actual mark like the ones Voldemort gave to his death eaters and that concerned him greatly. If what he thought was true he was now connected to Voldemort threefold. His blood was now helping to sustain the life of the man who was trying very hard to kill him, he had a scar on his forehead from that same man attempting to kill him, and now he was carrying a mark on him arm from the same man. He had written to Neville and Sirius about this and they were both very concerned. It was Neville who sent, along with his letter, a book on mind arts telling Harry that it was time for him to start learning to protect his mind. Sirius sent him a letter saying, among other things that could not be repeated in polite company, that he would speak to Dumbledore about the scar and see if it could really be a mark.

The Dursley's had seen fit to treat Harry as if he didn't exist this summer which suited Harry just fine. They had not all of a sudden decided to leave Harry alone out of the goodness of their hearts; the night they brought Harry back home they received a visit from Remus Lupin and not in his professorial capacity. He showed up with fangs barred and as fully embraced in his inner wolf as he could be without the aid of a full moon. He had impressed upon them the importance of not treating Harry poorly in any way, shape, or form and that if they never wanted to see him again they would make sure that Harry was as comfortable as possible during the summer. He also informed them that he would know if the boy wasn't treated well and if he didn't receive a letter and current picture of the boy at least once a week, he would show up again. After that Harry was left alone, other than the glares that were directed at him during meals they had no contact at all.

On the desk where Harry sat was an article from the daily prophet that had come out the day after the third task that made him angrier than any other article that had ever been written about him. He kept the printing as a reminder of the lengths the ministry would go to save face.

**Cedric Diggery Dead, Potter Blames It on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Return.**

**"Four students went into the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament; three came out of it alive. Young CedricDiggery (17) did return, in the arms of Harry Potter, but he was dead. This tragic ending is still baffling to many of us. The young Potter came out of the maze claiming that the Trophy he carried was a portkey and that he and Cedric had been transported to a graveyard where they went toe-to-toe with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Cedric did not survive. The Ministry, however, claims that Voldemort is dead and gone and that Harry should be ashamed of himself for saying such things and inciting mass hysteria. They claim something happened in that maze that Harry doesn't want to get out and they will be investigating him. cont...p.3"**

He was so mad after reading the article that every thought he had about Rita was an obscene one. She had basically said that he was responsible for Cedric's death and the ministry was implying the Harry might have killed him himself. It was unbelievable. He had shown the ministry his scars and even a memory. He could not understand why they would still make these accusations. He asked Dumbledore about it but as usual the old man refused to answer his questions. Harry was mad but not surprised, he had done that every year and Harry was getting sick of it. Harry had also been doing a lot of thinking the past year about how the things in his life really were not adding up. How could Dumbledore the "Greatest" wizard of his time and the best teachers of magic in Europe put up protections against the Philosophers' Stone so dismal that three eleven year olds could get by them? Especially if they were working to try and keep Voldemort from getting to it, and to add how do you not suspect at all that a teacher could have another person inhabiting his own body? Anyone that looked at professorQuirrell could see something was wrong with him. It happened again this year with Moody, did the teachers really not know or did they refuse to acknowledge the facts in front of them. Then to have a giant Snake living in your drainage pipes that had killed at your school before and not have taken care of it when it happen the first time was ridiculous. The list of Dumbledores oversights was massive and Harry's trust in the old man faded every time he thought about what had happen over the last four years.

Harry was also mad the Dumbledore had never offered to give him extra instruction. With all the things he had been through the last few years one would think that either he or McGonagall would at least offer to teach him something more. He had asked his head of house or extra tuition but he had been turned away, yet another circumstance where his house leader failed him. He had learned more from Neville, Sirius, Tonks, and Remus this year than all three years previous. He felt it a serious injustice to his schoolmates that the curriculum was so lacking at the school. He had even started thinking about starting a club to teach then some things teachers wouldn't.

As Harry picked up the article and placed it back into his trunk he almost jumped out of his skin when his snow white owl Hedwig pecked on the window. He walked over to the window and opened it allowing the owl to fly in and land softly on his left shoulder. Harry stroked the bird lovingly even though he was still trying to gain his breath.

"You scared me love." He scratched under her beak because he knew she liked that the best. "I was worried when you didn't come back last night but I thought you wouldn't be back until tonight at the earliest."

Hedwig hooted an apology, she knew during the summer her human only had her to communicate with so she tried to keep her hunting and flying time to a minimum so that she could be there for him. They were connected, she was his first friend and he was the only one to take an interest in her and take her away from they awful pet shop. They had a very deep connection, more than that of a messenger owl to her master. They had been together long enough where they understood each other. He knew what her hoots meant and her looks, she was in tune with him and his emotions they were genuinely connected.

Harry talked to her for about an hour about how he felt with his scar and what he thought about Dumbledore. It relieved him somewhat to be able to talk to her, she would nip at his ear or finger from time to time, or press her head under his jaw in a comforting manner. She would also hoot and ruffle her feathers angrily when Harry talked about Dumbledore. He felt that she truly understood and cared for him.

He was pouring Hedwig some water when he heard another tapping at the window. There was a small bird there with a letter attached to its leg. Harry went to the window and let the little bird in.

"Where did you come from little one?" Harry asked as he took the letter of the outstretched leg of the bird.

Hedwig hooted jealously from her cage as Harry gave the little bird at treat and sent it off.

"Oh come now love," Harry said as he walked over to her cage and stroked her head, "you know you're the only owl for me." He laughed to himself as Hedwig looked at him with some indignation.

Harry was shocked when he realized that it was a letter from Hermione, he was sure he wouldn't hear anything from her this summer or ever again for that matter. He thought his actions at the train station had showed her he was not interested in talking to her. Why would she want to talk now, now that it was all over? When he needed her to talk to she would not even acknowledge his existence so what was so important now? He thought about ripping it up and not reading it at all but something inside him would not allow him to do so. He had wanted some kind of communication from her all year and although this was a poor attempt he would read it anyway. He might not reply but he would read it. As he unrolled it he saw tear stains in various spots on the parchment.

He waved the letter at Hedwig, "Tears that's a little rich don't you think?" Hedwig had a look of understanding on her face; she knew that there was a connection between her human and Hermione. She was an animal after all, she had instincts and it was clear to her but she did understand why he felt the way he did. Harry thought the tears where a bit over the top. What tears could she have? She did not go through anywhere near as much pain as he had this year. He turned the letter back around and began to read out loud.

_**Dear Harry,**_

_**"I am writing to you because I couldn't get to you at the train station. I know you heard me calling for you and saw me coming towards you. That also means I know you ignored me purposely which I will admit hurt very much but I can't say I deserved any better. I know the feeling that I felt at that one moment was the feeling that you felt from me all year. I know that I am the last person you probably want to hear from at the moment but I need you to understand that I am so sorry and I miss you so much Harry. This letter isn't to try and act like the last year did not happen but to explain why it did and to apologize for how stupid I have been. First and foremost I am so sorry Harry for abandoning you. It was the worst thing a friend could do to another friend and I am totally guilty of it.**_

"Got that right." Harry snorted as he read.

_**For being top girl in our year I acted very stupid. There as never been a time since i knew you that i needed you and you weren't there for me and the guilt i feel for not doing the same hurts more than anything else I have ever experienced. At first I really believed that there was no way to make you compete in the contest if you didn't have a hand in getting yourself entered and it angered me to think that you were putting your life in more danger for no good reason and that you were lying to me about it. I should've known you didn't enter the contest willingly and the more I think about it, even if you did that wouldn't be reason enough to turn away from you like I did. It's just that the past three years I've watched you risk your life over and over again, and every time I would be right next to you scared to death that you would be hurt. But all those times there seemed to be a purpose a true meaning to risking your life. It seemed that every time you did it was about the safety of others or the good of the world. Then to see you risk your life for something so unimportant was just too much for me, I couldn't watch you put yourself in mortal danger over something as trivial as a trophy and bragging rights. When I found out the first task was Dragons and watched that barbaric spectacle that was all I could take. It was too much for me, if something awful had happen to you or Heaven forbid I lost you I wouldn't be able to go on. But after seeing you come out of that maze with Cedric and hearing what you said and realizing that I really could've lost you I felt so guilty for not being beside you the whole time. I kept thinking there was something I could've done to help you and maybe even Cedric. I am so sorry Harry pleaseforgive me. I wanted to tell you that deep down I really did believe you, I was just trying to protect my own sanity, but the opposite happened. I was a wreck all year; I was worried about you all the time. I saw everything you went through and my heart broke for you. Harry you are my first and as Ron proved this year only real friend I have in this world or the muggle world. I missed the way you could tell how I was upset without me telling you, the way you forced me to take a break from studying and just made me have fun. I missed being close to you Harry. I miss you period. I know that there is no way to justify what I did but I am hoping that perhaps you could find it in your heart to give me another chance at being your friend. I know there is not very much I can say to convince you I am worthy of one but I am begging you to give me a chance. I promise I am willing to do whatever I have to do to prove to you your friendship is worth more to me than anything else in the world. If there is one thing that I must ask for at this time is that you respond to this letter, be it negative or positive in terms of your acceptance of my apology please just say something. I don't want to go all summer wondering and waiting. Please write me back, please.**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Hermione.**_

Harry was in shock. "That's it, after a year of neglect all she says is she couldn't be with me because she was worried about my welfare!" He couldn't believe it. "Maybe having the smartest witch in the school on my side could've aided with my welfare." Hedwig hooted at him and gave him an insufferable look.

"What, does that sound like a good excuse to you?" He asked her, "I called out for her all year to even talk to me and she didn't so much as spare me a glance. She said she thought I did it for bragging rights, as much as she knows I don't like any of the fame she thought I was seeking more! I don't even know what to say to this, this letter. Oh yes Hermione, you broke my heart, I felt terrible without you." Harry stalked around the room demonstratively, " Yes Hermione, I believe you when you say you felt bad, obviously not bad enough to do anything about it but bad enough, and lets be friends again I forgive you totally."

She hooted back at him and gave him a look that said "That is not what she asked you to do."

"That might not have been exactly what she said but that is what she is expecting." He glared back at her. "Ok so I miss her, I've missed her all year, but what kind of actual friend does that. I can't trust her and that's that." That last part he said with a little less intensity and something that sounded like sadness.

"You know he is back Hedwig, if I couldn't trust her through a school tournament, how can I trust her when Voldemort comes after me?" Hedwig flew off her perch and onto his shoulder offering a little more support. "He will be coming after me and the last thing I need is someone who will turn me in or leave me high and dry because the danger level was too high."

As much as she was trying to make him feel better that comment was a little much for her. If it was actually possible Hedwig rolled his eyes at him. "Well I am just going to have to tell her that it just cannot happen.

"Idiot" Hedwig hooted nipping his ear.

He went to his trunk to get a piece of parchment and a quill. He sat down on the desk and was about to work when he heard a voice.

"BOY!" His uncle shouted. Harry knew boy meant him since he was the only one that was never called by his name.

Harry got up and went down stairs, as he did he tried to think to himself if he had done anything that his relatives might have perceived as bad on his part but he couldn't think of anything.

When he arrived downstairs he smiled as he saw a bubble gum pink haired woman standing at the threshold.

"This is here to see you." His uncle grunted. Then he walked away mumbling about freaks and magic running his life. Vernon, however, knew better than to say anything too offensive after that visit from Remus.

"Wotcher Harry." She smiled at him.

"Hello Tonks. What are you doing here?"

"I've got something for ya." She walked through the door and towards him. "Come on take me up to your room lover boy we need some privacy." She winked at him and sashayed up the stairs ahead of him.

Harry blushed and followed her up to the room it was always an enjoyable view when Tonks went up first. When they got there she conjured a chair and sat down.

"So to what do I owe the pleasure?" Harry asked.

"It's been a while and I needed a quick shag, now take your shirt off." Harry stared at her mouth gaping. She burst out laughing at him expression. "Way to easy of a mark Harry." Then she reached into her pocket. "I have a letter to give you from Sirius," she said handing him the letter. "Dumbledore and Sirius had an argument and Sirius doesn't think that Albus would let any letter to you get through. Since I am your guard he gave me a letter to give to you."

"Wait wait, what do you mean guard?" Harry asked.

"Umm, well, Dumbledore is pretty sure that you were going to try and leave here on your own again this summer and he wanted to make sure you didn't. So he is using people from the order to watch over you." She answered him honestly but she could see his anger coming to the forefront.

"What you mean is he put baby sitters in place to make sure I stayed put! Make sure I stay in this prison no matter what happens! Make sure even if they are beating me senseless that I don't try to get away rom them!" Harry was very angry.

"Harry, try to calm down, the guards have been mostly me and Mungduns. Every time I am on duty I come see you and if you wanted to leave I'd walk out with you. And no one really knows were Fletcher is when he is suppose to be here." She handed the letter Sirius wrote to Harry who still seemed angry. "Read this first before you get so mad you kill the messenger.

Harry opened the letter angrily and began to read.

_**Hey Pup,**_

_**I am writing to give you some good news. First of all let me say I'm sorry you had to go back to those ghastly relatives of yours it's really shameful what they've done to you and if they have mistreated you at all this summer I will make them sorry for it. Even though I know Remus "talked" to them I am really hoping they slip up and do something stupid. Now to the good news, I am coming to get you tomorrow. Dumbledore be damned you're my godson and I have a right to you more than Dumbledore does. I don't trust him pup and your Mum didn't really either, there are going to be some changes around here. There is something wrong with a man who would force a child to endure what you've had to so I'm coming to get you and bring you to a safe place until you can go to school and I dare Dumbledore to stop me. We might even be looking into taking you to a new school. I want you completely disconnected from that old coot. I'll be there tomorrow around three pup so get your stuff ready.**_

_**Love,**_

_**Sirius.**_

Harry looked up at Tonks shocked. "Is he serious?" He asked very hopefully.

"Yeah he is, there was an Order meeting earlier this week that answered a lot of questions for some of us and created a lot more." She held up a hand to stop him from asking the question she knew she couldn't answer. "You'll know when he gets you out of here."

Harry wanted to protest but he knew it wouldn't do any good. Then a thought came into his head, "Umm is the Order guarding anyone else or am I the only one who gets the jail house treatment?"

"Umm well we still have a guard on the Grangers household. But that is not every day, we just check on them from time to time. Hermione is a very smart witch and could be a target and with her being a friend of yours she might be even more of a target." She answered.

Harry snorted, "Well at least half of that is accurate."

Tonks looked confused "What do you mean? "

"Hermione Granger and I haven't been friends since she abandoned me after she found out I was entered in the tournament."

"No way, she wouldn't do that would she? I thought you two were inseparable." She was even more confused, she would've bet money that even if everyone else in the world left him Hermione would've stayed. She thought they would end up together when they finally opened their eyes and realized it.

She saw his body tense up when he mentioned her and knew that it was a sensitive subject. "Can you tell me what happened? Maybe this is some sort of misunderstanding."

Harry was hesitant but Tonks was a girl, maybe she could help him make sense of this situation with Hermione because the letter he received earlier today did not help.

So he told her about what happened that year. As he finished his story he looked up to see Tonks with her mouth hanging open slightly.

"Well so much for the destined to be together. Geez I never would've thought."Tonks thought, there was not a lot she could say at that moment.

"Then she sent me this letter today." Harry got up, grabbed the letter, and handed it to Tonks.

She read it trying to make sense of it all.

"I don't understand what she thinks that letter was supposed to do. You know Voldemort is back." Tonks jumped and Harry rolled his. "It's just a bloody name. Anyway if he comes after me I need to know I have people with me that I can trust totally."

Tonks nodded. "I understand that Harry. But she is young and mistakes can happen even between best friends." Harry was about to interrupt but Tonks stopped him. "At least unlike Ron she realized she was being foolish and is trying to make amends."

"But how am I supposed to respond?"

"Well you really have to ask if you want her in your life or not. She apologized and that is really all she can do. You can't change the past and you can't erase it either. But if you believe things can be better in the future I would advise you to take a moment to think about it before you write her off totally. She cares deeply about you, that is obvious to anyone who looks at you two together for any amount of time. Obviously neither of you would have such strong emotions about the issue if you didn't care in some way. So just think things through before you answer her, but do answer her. Don't leave her hanging, if you do that you will be doing exactly what she did to you for the last year and you are better than that." Hedwig gave an agreeing hoot from her cage.

Harry hung his head. That wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. "Alright Tonks I'll think about it. But I'm telling you my trust for her is really broken."

Tonks got up and gave him a hug. "Rome wasn't built is a day. No one said you have to go back to normal immediately." Tonks then checked her watch. "As much as I love the company Harry, I have to go and you have to get ready for tomorrow. Get something to eat then head on to sleep."

"Thanks Tonks." Harry walked her down to the front door. "I hope whatever Sirius is planning tomorrow works."

"Me too." Tonks said, then she disappeared.

Harry went back upstairs to pack his stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

**Better Suited**

Harry woke up early in the morning just as the sun was rising. His mind hadn't allowed him to sleep much that night and for good reason. He had been so excited that Sirius was coming to get him that he didn't even think about how he was going to get out of the house without Dumbledore knowing. Knowing how quick to action his Godfather was Harry was certain that he hadn't fully thought this out either. All this added up to two possibilities; either he was going to get really lucky and just be able to walk out the front door, or if Sirius was able to get by any kind of enchantments or wards Dumbledore put up they were going to be in for a hell of a fight. Harry banked on the second option because nothing that happened in his life so far alluded to the fact that he might be lucky. He had sent a letter to Neville letting him know what was going down that day and to be ready to come to Sirius' house should things go according to plan.

Harry got out of his bed, put on a shirt and some jeans, and went down stairs; it was time to go give the Dursley's' the good news. As he was walking down the stairs he could smell the breakfast that the family had all began to eat, of course they didn't inform him that the food was ready, but then again why would they. Harry was ok with it, it was not so long ago that he would've been forced out of his bed to make the breakfast for them.

Vernon sat on the table. Well his immense rear end had completely engorged the seat that threatened by the squeaks it made to buckle at any moment, but his obscenely large stomach had not managed to fit in the space between the table and the chair so it rested on top of the table, so part of him at least sat on the table. He was slurping his coffee and had his face covered by the morning paper. His plate was empty but then again food never lasted very long around Vernon.

His fat and substantially less intelligent little mini-me Dudley sat opposite him putting on his usual "pig to trough" show with his food. Harry wondered how he could manage to get so big when half of his food always ended up on the floor. Harry could never distinguish if the sounds he made while eating came from his mouth or another cavity on his body. Dudley at feeding time was a sight to behold if you could stomach it.

His aunt Petunia skinny as she was, because she did everything for her fat and lazy husband and son, was running around like a chicken with a freakishly long neck cut off attached to her head cut off.

None of them acknowledged his presence in the room but that was par for the course.

"A-hmm" Harry said trying to get their attention.

He might as well have said nothing at all with the response he got, so he decided to take a more direct approach.

"Hey, you group of bloody gits!"He shouted causing everyone to look in his direction.

"I'm leaving this place today and my Godfather is coming to get me." Harry then turned around to go back up stairs.

"Hold on!" Vernon said. "We are not going to have any more of your kind in this house. It is bad enough that that pink haired freak shows up for a visit, and you have that creature come to my home and threaten me and my family on your behalf, as if you are even worth the effort. I will not have any more freakishness in my house! I will not stand for it!"

"His name is Remus." Harry interrupted "I'm surprised that you have a hard time remembering it with the last meeting you had." He smirked a little.

Vernon shuddered a little at his remembrance of their last in counter a few weeks ago.

"You might not stand for it but if you try to stop it from happening you could find yourself in a much more precarious situation. See that creature you referred to was a werewolf and one of my father's closest friends. He has heard and seen what you did to me and because you are still alive, that tells me he didn't get too angry. That pink haired freak is a magical police officer and you know the special thing about her?" Vernons eyes went wide. "She has to ability to change her body as she sees fit. She can turn into anyone she wants. Me, you, your boss, your wife, and there is no way you could tell the difference. She could be anyone, anywhere, at anytime." Vernon gulped hard, he knew these freaks were a menace to society. "Then lastly the man who is coming here today is my Godfather, I am sure you have heard of him, Sirius Black?" Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Sirius Black, t-t-the.."

"The mass murder, the one accused of killing 13 of your kind in one day. Yeah that one, so if I were you I would keep my mouth shut." Harry turned to go back up stairswhen his Uncle found his voice again.

"It's bad enough we have to deal with your freakish kind at all but now you are bringing dangerous freaks around. I remember all those news reports, he is a bloody murderer too. Leave it to you to have a murderer for a godfather. You had good for nothing freak parents that were friends with a werewolf and have a murderer. Is it a wonder why we hate you or beat you, what is it that your life is besides problems for other people? Huh?" He was stepping close to a very steep cliff Vernon was.

Harry was already trying hard to restrain himself. "_Only a few more hours don't do anything stupid so that you have to deal with the ministry on top of Dumbledore."_ Harry reasoned with himself.

"Answer me! Going to stay with a murderer, nothing but bad things are going to happen. Look at your filthy freak parents, they knew him didn't they and what happen? Murder…"

Vernon couldn't even finish his sentence. Before the "ed" could escape from his lips a flash of red light hit him directly in the chest sending him flying right into and through the kitchen wall. He was stuck in the wall unconscious.

Sirius Black had blasted a hole through the front door that went directly towards Vernon. He stepped through the hole in the door he just made and began to speak.

"Lily and James Potter we my best friends in the world and it was not my association with them that got them killed." Sirius said aloud as he walked toward Petunia and Dudley who were trying to pull the dead weight third family member out of his hole in the wall.

He walked right up to them and in a very calm but venomous tone he relayed his message. "If I were you I would never let their names dawn your lips again. Because next time I will demonstrate why it was so easy for everyone in Britain to believe I could've murdered thirteen people in one day."

He moved away from the now paralyzed family and looked towards his grandson who was equally as stunned.

"I'm surprised I beat you to the punch pup. I really hope you don't let them speak about your parents like that without any retaliation?" He said with a slight smile on his face as he embraced they young man.

Harry snapped out of his stunned state as his godfather embraced him.

"That was bloody brilliant." He said somewhat distractedly.

Then all of a sudden it hit him. "How did you get in here? I was sure that some sort of magical barrier would have stopped you."

Sirius looked at him. "Oh there were certain obstacles to get by pup but remember I was an aruor and a marauder so I know a little bit about spells myself."

He paused then frowned a little. "I do think, however, that my not so elegant entrance might warrant some unwanted attention.

As if speaking it into existence the newly remodeled front door crept open and Dumbledore himself walked over the threshold. "For someone still in hiding you seem to have made a grand entrance here Sirius."

"What are you doing here Albus?" Sirius asked

"Well when the enchantments that I myself took the time to set up were breeched I had to investigate." He was speaking in his usual passive aggressive tone. "We must be careful because any bloodthirsty animal or deranged murderer with or without a mark on their arm could be coming for young Harry here."

A direct shot at Remus and Sirius no doubt.

"Well his protection is no longer your concern. Harry is coming with me now and we are leaving this hell-hold." Sirius shifted Harry behind him with his left hand and pulled his wand with his right.

"I am afraid I cannot allow that to take place." Dumbledore reached for his own wand. "Harry is much too important to m..., the magical worlds hope to let him be taken from the security that I have worked so hard to give him."

"Security?" He almost dripped with sarcasm. "Being forced to live in a broom closet until you are eleven is security? Being an indentured servant and a punching bag for a grown man and his son is safety? Being underfed and abused by people who hate you and your dead parents and could care less if you live or die is the place you choose for security?" Sirius was livid. "If that is what you truly believe that then you're crazier than I thought old man."

"It is better than the alternative." Dumbledore retorted.

"Which is?" Sirius asked.

"The boy could've been dead." he stated plainly. "I saved him. I supplied him a home, I've even appointed people to watch over him. Mrs. Figg down the way and Order guards this summer."

"Dead! You can not even begin to convince me that every light or even gray wizard in all Britain wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity to take him in and at least be nice to him. This wasn't the only option Dumbledore, it was the worse one and we both know it."

"We both do not know that Sirius." Dumbledore responded. "I in fact believe the exact opposite, and unlike you I was thinking about his safety and mental health, the boy would've never had a normal life in our world."

"What the bloody hell is normal about what he is going through now, I'd rather have a spoiled child than an abused one." Sirius huffed. "You claimed you saved him huh? Well since I've got you here there are some questions I want answered Albus." Sirius clenched his wand. "Voldemort vanished the day he tried to kill Harry. Mostly everyone believed him dead and all the death eaters went into hiding. Why did you defy his parents wishes place him here when you know that this was the one place his parents did not want him." he glared at Dumbledore. "They made me his godfather, named Remus next if anything should happen to me. Why was he brought here?"

Dumbledore hardened his stance sensing what could be coming. "Sirius if you understood one iota about ancient magic and the love sacrifice enchantment placed upon him by his mother, then you would understand why he had to come to his blood relatives."

"Do not think because I don't share my family's' viewpoint that I am ignorant of the old ways. I need not remind you Dumbledore that the house of Black is ancient and noble and higher up on the ladder than the Dumbledores, I am more aware than you think."

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing and if he didn't know better he would swear that Sirius was attempting to pull rank on Dumbledore.

"You have been selling this blood connection crap for a long time but you and I both know better. We know that the enchantment that Lily died for is not blood connected it is love placed. It gains its power and is strengthened when he is with loved ones."

Forget couldn't believe what was happening, Harry was now completely shocked.

Sirius was pacing back and forth as he spoke. "You know that putting him with a family that hated him and couldn't care less about his welfare would strip his mothers' protection down to the bare minimum. How would putting a child into an abusive household make his protection charm better? And you keep talking about his blood, there was no blood spilled in his mother's death, the killing cure does not harm the body it only detaches the soul from it. If this boy has any blood trace or spell in him then you put it there and that is illegal and dark magic!"

Dumbledore was at a loss, how could Sirius have figured that out? He had obviously misjudged his "foolproof" plan not thinking that anyone could connect those dotes.

"I did what was best for him; I got him to the place I thought was best and I think I know better than you."

"Did you even check up on him?" Sirius asked. "In all eleven years did you once check on him? Because if you did there was no way you could have missed his treatment."

"I put a trace on him to make sure he was alive. That's all that mattered." Dumbledore said.

"Tell me Albus," Sirius was fuming, "if the protection was blood based and was the main source of his protection, what is the point of keeping him here if Voldemort used Harrys' blood to make himself a body? How does your theory stand up to that?

Albus had no answer.

Sirius had enough. "My godson and I are leaving. Now you can either get out of the way or we can do this the hard way." He once again took his place in front of Harry.

"You aren't leaving here with the boy and if I have to use force then I will."

Sirius fired first. "Confingo!" he shouted.

Red sparks shot out of his wand towards Dumbledore who dodged it causing the front door behind him to burst into flames.

Dumbledore slashed his wand violently silently casting his spell. A knife shot out of his wand and managed to catch a diving Sirius on the shoulder of his left arm creating a gash.

"Impedimenta!" Sirius yelled hitting Dumbledore in the legs and binding them together sending a bindedDumbledore to the ground.

"Watch this one and grab all your stuff right now." Sirius said smirking at Harry as Dumbledore undid his leg bind and got back to his feet.

"Tornatio!" he yelled and a small tornado like wind cameshooting from his wand and landed on the ground in front of them.

It made its way toward Dumbledore blinding his view of Sirius and Harry.

As Dumbledore threw spells at the wind trying to stop it, a wolf creature jumped through the blazing door into the house behind Dumbledore biting him on the arm causing him to drop his wand which was then swept up into the tornado. Sirius then grabbed Harry then rushed out the back door of the house outside the wards at disappeared.

The next thing Harry knew he was a familiar place, Number 12 Grimmuald Place to be exact. Before he could gather himself he heard a shout.

"I Sirius Black head of the Black Family do now and forever forward revoke the entrance of this house to AlbusDumbledore and any members of the Order of the Phoenix as well as the Weasley family!"

The entire house shook as the command was being followed out. After it stopped Sirius approached Harry.

"You alright there pup?"

Harry turned to him. "That was absolutely insane. You conjured a bloody tornado!"

"I know." He said laughing. "Quite the parlor trick wasn't it?"

"And where did the wolf come from did you do that?" Harry asked.

"Like I said I am a marauder and I always have a trick up my sleeve." He said

"And by trick he means he always has another marauder around to bail is arse out of trouble!"

Harry neck almost snapped as he turned to see RemusLupin walk through the hallway.

"You were the wolf?" He asked.

"Surely" Remus said. "Padfoot isn't the only one who can shape shift, although turning into a wolf is fairly easy for me. You both owe me though; I hate the taste of old people." He laughed.

"Wait I thought Sirius just locked out all the members of the Order from getting in here."

"I did." Sirius said with a smirk.

"Oh my" Remus tried to use his best sneaky voice. "I guess that must mean I am not an order member anymore."

Harry's eyes grew wide. "Are you serious? Why?"

"Well first when we finally found out what Dumbledore was playing at bringing you to those dreadful muggles you were with I could no longer support him. Also, it became increasingly more evident that he didn't care for my welfare either. When I tried to confront him about my suspicions he threatened to go to the ministry and out me as a werewolf and have me turned over to the Dark creatures' authority unless I kept quiet and did what he said."

Harry could not believe his ears. He turned to Sirius "So all that stuff you said to Dumbledore about my mothers' love enchantment and him doing illegal things to my blood that was all true?"

Sirius put his arm around Harry. "Yes, Harry it's all true. Dumbledore has some sort of ulterior motive and his plan has you in the middle off it. He was doing something to you and your magic by making you stay at that retched house all that time but we don't know exactly what that is."

Harry looked as though he might explode. He knew Dumbledore was up to something but he always thought it had something to do with getting rid of Voldemort, now that there could be another plan in motion made him sick to his stomach.

"I know it's a lot to take in Harry." Remus said "But you are safe now. We have you and Dumbledore cannot get to you."

"I think I need to go lie down." Harry said.

"Kreature!" Sirius yelled.

"Master Black request Kreature?" The old house elf answered bowing as he did so.

"Yes take Harry here to a room upstairs so he can rest."

"Kreature will be doing so." He grabbed Harry and took him upstairs.

When Harry got to his room he thanked Kreature and closed the door behind him. He did need to sleep but right now he needed to get a letter to Neville to let him know he was out and safe and Neville can alert his grandmother of that fact so he could come over.

Back downstairs Remus and Sirius sat down and had some tea.

"How do you think he is going to cope?" Remus asked.

"Right now he will be fine but after we tell him all that he needs to know…" He sighed "I just hope he is as strong as we all believe him to be.'


	4. Chapter 4

**Better Suited**

Early the next morning Harry was lying in his bed staring at the ceiling. He had tried to get some sleep last night but honestly he did not get very much. With all the information he heard yesterday he was on mental overload. He sent Hedwig last night with a note to Neville giving a brief overview of what happened and telling him he needed to come over soon and if possible bring his Grandmother to visit sometime soon. Harry still couldn't believe Dumbledore would do all this to him.

Sirius and Remus were downstairs in the kitchen drinking tea and lost in their thoughts. They did not wake Harry because they knew he needed to work though the hill of information he had received yesterday. He needed to work most of it out before he was hit with the mountain of information he still needed to know.

Harry dredged downstairs; still wearing the clothes he had on yesterday, hair even more wild. He looked very much so like he felt, totally drained.

His demeanor did not go unnoticed by the two marauders. "So you slept well then." Sirius smirked at him, causing Remus to choke on his coffee and Harry to glare at him.

"I did not sleep much last night. I had to process all this information." Harry replied taking a seat at the table in the kitchen.

"Understandable. Do you want some breakfast cub?" Remus asked. Harry nodded prompting Sirius to call Kreacher and have the elf bring something for all three of them.

"So pup," Sirius asked as they were eating. "I know you have a lot of questions about what happened yesterday and we will try and answer them all for you. So where do you want to start?"

Looking up from his plate Harry took a sip of his pumpkin juice before he spoke. "Actually, I want to ask you guys a favor first."

The two men nodded. "If we can we will." Remus replied.

"Well I would like one of you to go and get Neville Longbottom and bring him here."

Sirius nodded at this, from his correspondence with Harry he knew the Neville had stepped in and become Harry's friend. Remus however, was not in the loop on that new development and asked about it.

"I know that this year you have forged a friendship with Neville but why not Ron or Hernione?"

"They are no longer my friends." Harry spat. "Neville is my best mate and knows pretty much all of what is going on. It would really help me if he could be here with me."

"What happened with them that they aren't your friends anymore?" Remus asked.

"Well Hermione and Ron both abandoned me last hear. The day after my name was chosen last year Ron stopped talking to me and so did Hermione. They never tried again the whole year."

"Yeah that much I know, but I assumed at least with Hermione that would be short lived. She seemed too smart to believe you entered the tournament voluntarily." Remus said.

Harry decided to fill the two men in on ALL of exactly what had happened last year all the way through the scene at the train station. By the end of the story Sirius had a look of indignation and Remus looked disheartened.

"I guess some friendships don't last forever." Remus sighed.

"I would've expected this from Ronald he always had the look of a traitor about him, but I can honestly say I thought Hermione was a lifelong kind of person."

"Me too," Harry replied, "and she did send me a letter earlier this week."

Harry then told them what the letter said and the looks on the two men's races seemed to have changed. Remus seemed to be the indignant one now and Sirius was smirking somewhat but when asked about he didn't say anything. Remus agreed to go and get Neville and bring him back after they finished eating. After Remus left Sirius and Harry went to the sitting room to talk.

_**Longbottom Manor**_

"Gran I'll be going sometime today. Harry said he was going to send Professor Lupin or Sirius to get me. Probably ProfessorLupin" Neville said packing the rest of the things he needed to take with him. "And also as soon as you can you need to come and speak to them."

"I agree Neville. This letter is ridiculous." Augusta said in disgust as she looked at the letter Neville had received from Dumbledore this morning. Dumbledore had addressed it specifically to him and it arrived early that morning.

_**Dear Neville Longbottom,**_

_**Neville, I know that you are friends with Harry Potter and it is with great worry from all of those who care about him to inform you that he has been kidnapped. He went back to his relatives where special precautions were taken to make sure he was safe and they were breeched. This as you know is extremely distressing at this time more than any other with the events of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I am not sure for certain but he could be in the hands of Sirius Black an escapee of Azkaban and wanted murder, and also a werewolf. As you know werewolves are dark creatures and their rage and violent streak can be unpredictable and can be very hard to contain. As you can demise this puts Harry in a very unsafe setting that could lead to him being hurt very badly or even put his very life in danger. As I said this may not even be the case, since Voldemort is back he could very well be behind Harry being kidnapped and if that is the case then this most certainly means that time is of the essence to get Harry back. Usually I would not divulge such information to a student but you are in a very special situation. You are one of the very few people who are close enough to Harry to be considered some sort of friend and he might reach out to you. If you hear anything from him or about him or his whereabouts it is imperative that you contact me immediate and let me know exactly what you know. I as well as you are very concerned about Harry and would not want anything to happen to him. I am sure I can depend on you not to let something happen if you can prevent it by letting me know any information you have.**_

_**Best regards,**_

_**Albus Dumbledore**_

Neville had previously; with permission from Harry of course, written letters to Augusta telling her of Sirius and his treatment at his relatives' house. Harry had requested Neville do this to get Sirius the trial he never received and to see if something could be done about his living situation. Harry was sure there had to be some sort of child protection laws at the ministry and because of her status as the Head of the Longbottom Family and her spot on the Wizengamot she could perhaps be of some influence. Harry had also asked Remus to speak to her towards the end of the year and he answered some of the questions she had and put her mind at ease about Sirius being innocent. So in short she knew that the letter she received and the person that wrote it was full of crap.

"I will make time to come and see him as soon as them as soon as I can Neville. I would go with you today but after that huge malay that those two jokers insighted yesterday it would make more sense to just steer clear of them for a while. On top of that I have an emergency Wizengamot meeting to attend called by Dumbledore himself. Undoubtably to discuss Harry and what happened yesterday."Augusta said.

A few moments later Remus was announced in the sitting room of Longbottom Manor as he came to collect Neville. He met Augusta there.

"Lady Longbottom." Remus greeted her and kissed her hand.

"Hello Remus, you look well." She replied.

"As well as could be expected at the time, it has been a bit hectic."

"Agreed, and I can tell you for a fact it is going to get harder before it gets any better Remus." She looked at him sympathetically.

"What do you mean Augusta?" He asked.

"She means this." Neville said coming down the stairs levitating his trunk behind him. He handed Remus the letter he had received from Dumbledore.

"Oh you must be kidding me. The old man has really lost it." Remus said.

"I agree Professor," Neville replied. "I doubt he sent the same version of this letter to Ron or Hermione as they already knew that Sirius was innocent and was Harry's grandfather. " Neville scoffed. "He probably thought I was close enough to be a friend but not know everything."

"Hey, don't worry about that Neville right now it is a good thing." Neville looked at him questioningly. "The less Dumbledore knows about Harry's life and friends, the more of an advantage we have. Shall we take this with us to show Harry and Sirius?"

"NO!" Neville said grabbing the letter out of his hand and putting it on the counter. "It has multiple tracking and apparition charms on it. I don't want to take it anywhere near Harry."

"But aren't you worried about him coming here unwelcomed?" Remus asked.

"Albus may be the leader of the light but he knows better than to barge into my house." Augusta said. "He may have the hearts of most people in Britain in his pocket but in the ministry he has very few allies and he wouldn't do anything to risk losing me."

"Plus not even Dumbledore would want to mess with Gran when she is mad." Neville laughed and Remus smiled at him.

"Shall we be on our way then Neville?" The boy nodded.

"I will be along some time in the next few days Remus. Dumbledore has called a meeting at the ministry today, which I presume will be to talk about the little accident that happened yesterday." She said eying Remus. "I will owl Neville and tell him when I am coming."

"That sounds just fine Augusta." Remus replied.

"Take care of my Grandson Remus."

"Of course." With one hug for her Grandson they parted ways and Remus and Neville set off.

**Grimmmauld Place**

Remus and Neville walked through the door of Black Manor. Remus led him to the sitting room and then took his trunk up to his room.

"Oi Harry!" Neville called out. "Come on out mate I here."

Harry came downstairs to see his friend in the sitting room waiting for him.

"Nev," Harry smiled at him. "Good to see you."

"It's good to see you in one piece." Neville said back. "After that row with Dumbledore you told me about in your letter you seem to be in amazing condition."

"Eh," Harry shrugged," I didn't do much but stand and watch. Sirius and Remus did all the work."

"Ol' white beard wouldn't hurt Harry, he means too much to him and his plans." Sirius said entering the sitting room from the kitchen. "I did most of the work and yes I am also in amazing condition thank you for saying so." Sirius grinned

"But I didn…."

Harry stopped Neville and looked at him with a kind of "_just go with it_" expression.

"Umm yeah, you look great yourself Sirius." He replied instead.

"Oh yeah," Remus said coming back down the stairs."Sirius did most of the work. He disarmed Albus and created a distraction for Harry and him to get away. Oh, wait that was me." Remus said in fake surprise.

"What was it exactly that you did again mutt?" Remus asked.

"Umm I was the one who conjured the bloody tornado anddueled him face to face while you snuck up from behind wolf man." Sirius said obviously proud of himself.

"I guess that's better than nothing." Remus scoffed as he went to take a seat on the couch near the fireplace."

"Ignore the wolf please Neville." Sirius said. "It's almost that time of the month."

Harry and Neville laughed. "Did you really conjure a tornado?" Neville asked.

"Yep, one of the spells created by the Black family." He smirked. "As much bad as my family did, they did come up with a few good spells."

"Yeah and it is one I need to learn as soon as possible it was wicked." Harry said.

"So Neville, is your grandmother going to be joining us today?" Harry asked.

"No, Dumbledore called a meeting today for the Wizengamot." Neville rolled his eyes. "It's about you. Albus wants you back like yesterday."

"Should have known the old man wouldn't even let things die down for one day," Sirius said. "We are going to have to be very careful about who we deal with, I am sure Albus has started recruiting even more spies."

"Yeah and young Neville here was recruit number one on his list." Remus said as all eyes shot to the young boy.

"Dumbledore sent me a letter last night trying to appeal to my concern for your safety and guilt me into turning you in." Neville said.

"Did you bring the letter with you Nev?" Harry asked.

Neville shook his head, "That letter had tracking charms and apparition charms all over it. I wasn't taking any chances."

"Good move Neville." Sirius said. "You've got a good head on you. Just like Frank, smart as a whip he was."

"You knew my parents?" Neville said with a little hopefulness in his voice.

"We all went to school together." Sirius replied. "We weren't the closest of friends but we did know each other well."

"Yes, and after we graduated we all joined the order together and we really got close." Remus said. "Plus the Longbottom and Potter families have been close through many generations."

"Well it seems we are starting that tradition again." Harry said grinning at Neville.

"Not starting but continuing." Sirius said. "If the war had not affected both your families the way it did you two would've grown up together."

"What are you talking about?" Harry said.

"Well, it is true I am your Godfather but Alice Longbottom was your Godmother." Sirius replied.

"And Neville," Remus added "James and Lily were your Godparents."

"Why didn't anyone tell us this?" Neville asked obviously upset he was just now finding this out.

"Well with me in jail and Remus on the run all through your childhoods we couldn't have told you." Sirius said looking at the boy sympathetically. "With your parents in the state they were in they could not very well take up the mantle. Augusta, most likely, couldn't really get around Dumbledore either. I don't know that for a fact I am just guessing. Harry with the way Dumbledore was managing your life there was no way you were going to learn any of this."

Neville heaved a big sigh. "_What's done is done, at least we know now." _He thought.

"I would love to know just what exactly about my life is genuine; it seems just about every bit of information about my life was hidden from me. I had a brother in the same school and the same house and no one told me anything." Harry said.

"Well look at it this way mate," Neville said placing a hand on his shoulder, "You have a brother now, and a Godfather. You're away from Dumbledore now and you can start learning all the things that were kept from you. So no moping around, let's get to work."

Sirius looked at Neville with raised eyebrows. He was impressed with the young man. Sirius had expected this information to provoke a normal teenage tantrum response from the two boys but Neville seems to take it in stride and was doing his best to make sure Harry did the same.

"You said the Potters and the Longbottoms go back generations. Exactly how many generations is it?" Harry asked.

Remus was about to answer but Neville beat him to the punch.

"Hundreds of years Harry, at least 45 generations recorded for both out families. We are ancient, just like the Blacks or the Flamels." Neville said.

"I'm, I'm part of an ancient family?" Harry said a little stunned.

"More than one." Remus said. "You're a descendant of thePeverell family and a direct descendant of Ignutous Peverell."

Harry looked at him as if he had just told him he was the descendant of Humpty Dumpty.

"Geez Harry," Neville said rolling his eyes at the boy. "You have a lot of work to do. Those books I gave you on the train, one of them was about ancient family lineage that you should've started, and if not need to start that immediately. You also might want to actually start paying attention in history instead of sleeping…"

"Neville will save the lecture for later please!" Harry hated to be lectured about his study habits. Neville acquiesced and went on to explain.

"Ignutous Peverell was the youngest of the three Peverellbothers, the three most powerful wizards of any age yet known. Haven't you heard the story of the deathly Hallows?"

"Ummm… No." Harry said.

"Well the story is a bit trumped up because they use it as a fairy tale now, but the three brothers had dangerously powerful magic. They created magical spells and devices that still more than rival anything created today. Antioch Peverell the oldest brother was a dueling master said to have created the most powerful wand ever. It could never be destroyed in a fight and was loyal to only those who won it in battle. Camdus the second bother was obsessed with the beyond, working on potions and runes to create channels to and from death. He is said to have created a stone that could bring a person's spirit back from the other side, but the spirit could not inhabit a body anymore and therefore could not be sustained in this world. And your bloodline starts with Ignutous who was a master of disillusion. He created many charms and spells and things to defy the senses. He is said to have created a masterpiece, a cloak that would render the user of it completely invisible and unable to be harmed with any spell while within it."

Harry thought about his invisibility cloak that lay stuffed away in his chest. He was scrambling to get his thoughts together. He knew his cloak was special but he never thought it was fabled.

"Yep that's right pup." That cloak you have up in your room is proof that at least one of those Hallows does exist." Sirius said. "But just like you keep it a secret so did all of your family so it's existence is not common knowledge."

Neville continued. "It is said that anyone who can bring all three together; the wand the stone and the cloak would be the most powerful wizard ever. But many people dispel that talk because these things have never been identified to the public. Anyway, Ignutous had a son Trevor who had a daughter Nicole who then married a man by the name of Godric."

"No way, wait a minute." Harry stopped him. "You are not about to tell me I am kin to Bloody Godric Gryffindor are you?"

"Well I was, but you beat me to the punch." Neville said.

Harry was stunned. He was the heir to a Hogwarts founder. Harry stood up and walked around for a minute until he finally stopped back at the place he started from. "Unbelievable." Was the only word he managed to leak out.

"I told you should've paid attention in history class." Neville said in his best I-Told-You-So voice. "You aren't just famous because of Voldemort Harry, though it is a very big part of it, your bloodline falls into some really famous company."

"It's not just Harry's fault Neville." Remus said. "Part of the blame goes to us for not being there to inform him of his family history and a lot of it goes to Dumbledore. If he was going to take over as his magical guardian he had a responsibility to educate Harry of the magical world and he did not."

Sirius had his head down guilty looking. "I should've been there for you Harry, most of the blame here falls on me."

"Sirius don't blame yourself." Harry said trying to comfort his Godfather. "There were so many things that happened back then that were outside of our control it couldn't be helped. But we are all here now so let's focus on that."

Sirius looked up and smiled at him. "You're right pup."

"Well before we put the past all the way behind us Harry there are some things you need to know that we need to tell you." Remus said.

At that moment the door opened and Tonks entered the house.

"Wotcher all." Tonks said cheerily.

"Hello Tonks." Harry, Sirius, and Remus said together.

"Who's this then?" Tonks asked looking at Neville.

"Tonks this is my friend and umm, God Brother, Neville Longbottom." Harry said shyly

"Well Neville," She said extending her hand, "I've heard a little bit about you mate, nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise Tonks." Neville said shaking her hand.

"So dear cousin," Sirius said, "What are you doing here?"

"Well Dumbledore sent all the order out on search patrol to find Harry." She stated simply.

"Well shouldn't you be out looking for him?" Remus said smirking.

"Why look around for something when you already know where it is?" Tonks laughed. "Plus that old tosser can go get bent somewhere. Even if I didn't know where Harry was, I wouldn't help Dumbledore find him."

"You should've heard the things that he said about you and Remus at the emergency meeting last night." Tonks raved. "I wanted to curse the old fool where he stood."

"It was that bad was it?" Remus asked.

"He tried to convince us that both of you had gone to the dark side." Tonks sneered "Tried to tell us that Sirius had finally embraced his true Black side and sided with Voldemort. Then he said that he had feared with all the missions he sent you on to go a talk to the werewolf clans that you might have switched yourself."

"Well really, he could not have had many people believe it." Sirius said shocked.

"Well of course Moody and Shacklebolt knew he was full of hot air, but Molly Hagrid, Arthur, and Minerva seemed to eat it up." Tonks said.

"Well that isn't a shock, they all think the sun shines out of Dumbledore's backside."

All three adults nodded in agreement.

"He really said those things?" Harry said sitting down with a disappointed expression on his face.

"Harry there are many things that you don't know about what is going on but we are going to rectify that right now." Remus said.

"Remus right now might not be the best of times." Sirius began to argue.

"No, we took him out from under Dumbledore because he wasn't being told the whole truth and was being manipulated." Remus said, "If we do the same thing then we could've just left him where he was."

Sirius couldn't argue with that.

"Harry are you sure you don't want to hear this alone?" Sirius said looking at Neville.

Harry followed his Godfather's eyes.

"Yes I'm sure, Neville is my friend. Whether he find out now from you or later from me, he will find out."

Harry and Neville sat on the couch while Remus, Sirius, and Tonks sat on chairs in front of them.

Sirius took a deep breath.

"Alright then let's start from the beginning. From what we know there is a prophecy about you Harry. One that connects you and Voldemort together, one that makes him think he needs to kill you."

Harry seemed to take that nugget rather well. "Prophecy, well what does it say?"

"We aren't totally sure; all we could get from Dumbledore is that it was presented to him and that Voldemort tried to kill you because of it." Sirius said.

"So because of some prophecy, Voldemort killed my parents to get to me?" Harry's temper was rising.

"We believe so," Remus said. "Apparently Voldemort, however, never heard the whole thing. So the only one who fully knows what the prophecy said is Dumbledore."

"Yeah and the old coot was tight lipped about it." Tonks interjected. "He didn't tell the order and he obviously didn't tell you."

Harry shook his head.

"Now the night your parents died and Voldemort disappeared I went after Pettigrew and he ran like the cowardly little rat he was." Sirius said. "But in running it made me look guilty because no one suspected Peter of any foul play except me and moony."

"And the ministry wouldn't listen to me because of my 'condition' so they went after Sirius." Remus said.

"And while I was going after Peter, he was killing muggles left and right but I seemed to always be at the scene of the crime when the cops showed up. Even though I tried to help themuggles I couldn't take a chance of getting caught and losing Peter's trail so I would disappear before I could tell them what happen." Sirius said. "And then one night I couldn't get away fast enough and the Dementors caught me and threw me in prison. All the while I was screaming Peter had done it and no one stuck up for me except Moony but it was no use." he hung his head.

"Well with memories and spell extractions from your wand they should've been able to figure out you didn't do it." Neville said.

"They didn't give trials for anyone remotely associated with Voldemort." Sirius said. "As scared as people were of him all anyone had to do was point to you and say Voldemort and that was as good as a ten year sentence."

"Well why didn't Dumbledore help you?" Harry asked. "He was in the Order; he must have known the truth." Harry said, "Why didn't he help?"

Sirius looked away seemingly unable to speak so Remus took over from there.

"Harry what you need to understand is the Dumbledore is not a good person." he said. "Dumbledore was the one who convinced your parents to make Peter their secret keeper because he didn't believe Sirius or I were good enough. For all the good he has done, he has done some things that were very dark Harry. He is what we call a Master Manipulator. He does whatever he needs to do to get his way. He knew that if Sirius was cleared he would have full custody of you being your Godfather. That is why he decided to let Sirius stay in prison rather than coming to his aid. He played on the orders hurt and loss to succeed in making us all believe Sirius was guilty. He also knew that I was next in line to have you so he alerted the ministry that I was a werewolf, a dark creature as far as the ministry was concerned so I had to go into hiding."

Remus hung his head in much the same way Sirius had moments before both had looks of failure plastered across their faces.

Harry couldn't even speak.

Sirius began again. "There is something about you Harry that both Dumbledore and Voldemort fear. Ever since that prophecy came out Voldemort has tried to kill you and Dumbledore has done his best to try to control you."

Sirius walked up to his Godson and knelled down in front of him. "You're marked Harry," he said placing his hand on the scar on his forehead. "We just don't know exactly for what yet."

"What we do know Harry," Tonks spoke up, "Is that the you that you are now and have been the last 14 years is not who you really are."

"What do you mean?" Harry said finally breaking eye contact with his Godfather.

"Dumbledore had you under a very distinct blood tracer Harry." Tonks said. "The spell itself is accompanied with a rune. That rune is placed in the foundation of the place you inhabit and keeps you magic to an almost one third of the amount it should be."

Neville looked as though he was going to be sick. "Dumbledore has been draining Harry? For what?"

"Well we think it is the only way to keep Harry under his control." Remus answered. "Harry you have to think of some of the amazing things you can do an have done at such a young age. You can talk to snakes, you fought and killed a Basilisk, you cast a patronus your third year in school. You went toe-to-toe with Voldemort and survived on more than one occasion, you simply laid your hand on a man and he died." He starred at Harry.

"Harry you did all these things on a third of what your magic can really do. The trace Dumbledore put on you depletes your magic, we think that if we remove the trace from you entirely you could be more powerful than Voldemort or Dumbledore." Remus panted as he spoke that last part rather fast.

"We think that is what Dumbledore is afraid of." Sirius said, "We think that he does not want you to become more powerful than him. We also think that Voldemort is trying to kill you before you realize your true potential and are powerful enough to defeat him."

Harry felt like someone was playing a sick joke on him. First, they take his parents, then the only people who would've gladly taken care of him, and then the man who was responsible for him was bleeding his magic dry. This was too much. He couldn't speak, he couldn't even move, this was too much.

Neville was there to bail him out.

"You said that the rune was in the foundation of where he lived so that he could be drained right?"

The three adults nodded in agreement.

"But Dumbledore had made exceptions for him to go stay with the Weasley's. Why would he do that if it would counteract the trace?"

All three adults looked at each other again frowning

Harry caught the glance and the frown.

"No!" he yelled, "not them too."

"Harry." Sirius went to try to comfort his Godson.

"They knew!" he yelled,"They knew and they tried to act like my family while they drained the magic out of me."

Harry's anger had reached its boiling point. He was starting to turn red. The ground was starting to shake, you could hear the cracking in the ground underneath them. Remus ran over to him to help Sirius try to calm him down as did Neville.

"Calm down now pup, just try to calm down." Sirius said,

"I'll kill them!" Harry said.

Sirius grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eye as the book cases and other furniture in the house started to fall over. "Harry! Listen to me. All will be made right in the end and the Weasley's will face the consequences of their actions but they are not here right now. The only people you are endangering are the people who are helping you. Stop this immediately!"

Harry had a fury in his eyes that scared his Godfather but soon Sirius saw that anger turn into a deep sadness. The corners on Harry's eyes started to well with tears; everything that was shaking began to calm and then became still. Harry then collapsed into his godfathers arms crying."

"Th-th-they, were suppose to be my fr-fr-friends." Harry cried, "Mrs. Weasley said she considered me one of her children. They were the only family I had." Harry lost control again.

"Harry I know this hurts," Sirius said rubbing his back. "But they were not your family, and I am sure Dumbledore compensated them fully to pretend to act like they were. But look around you Harry. You have a Godfather and an Uncle that love you and would do anything to keep you safe. You have a God Brother now who is risking his own personal safety to be here with you."

"And me Harry." Tonks added trying to fight her own tears back. "Sirius is my family and that makes you my family too."

Harry attempted to calm himself. Looking around at all the faces looking back at him with concern he smiled a small smile trying to reassure them. "Th-thank you all. After hearing about the Weasleys' I just started to think that there was no one in the world I could really trust. But I have you all."

"Absolutely you have us all cub." Remus said. "We are going to do everything we can to be here for you and help you."

"Thank you guys." Harry said. "I think I need to go lay down for a little bit."

"Sure pup, you go on." Sirius said.

"Come on Harry." Neville said grabbing a hold of Harry's shoulder and guiding him upstairs.

Once Harry and Neville were gone Sirius plopped down on the couch. "I knew it would be a shock but did you see him Remus he was devastated."

"Well you couldn't really expect anything less Sirius, after all of that I am just glad he did not destroy everything in this house." Remus replied.

"The look in his eyes, I have never seen anything like it. Complete rage one second, utter despair the next."

"It's heartbreaking that Harry has to go through all of that at his age." Tonks said angrily. "People go their whole lives and never go through a tenth of what he has. It makes me want to go kill Dumbledore myself."

"You know you cannot do that Tonks." Remus said. "We need you to keep an eye in the order meetings to tell us what is going on so we can stay ahead."

"The old fool is lucky we still need him," Tonks huffed.

"You two realize we still have to tell him about how to remove the trace." Sirius said gloomily.

Tonks sighed heavily. "Can we really ask him to go through that kind of pain?"

"We have been through this many times Tonks." Remus said. "Whatever this connection is between Harry and Voldemort they are going to face each other to finish it and if we want Harry to live through it he will need all the power his core can supply him with. One third of it will not get it done."

The three adults all nodded solemnly. It needed to be done but they hated to do it. At that moment Neville came running down the stairs with a letter in his hand.

"Gran just sent me a letter. She said the meeting at the Wizengamot was a disaster and she need to talk to you all immediately!" Neville said in a hurry. "Someone needs to get her straight away."

The three adults looked at him worriedly. More bad news, it seemed like they just could not catch a break.

Remus took the letter from Neville and left to go retrieve lady Longbottom.


	5. Chapter 5

**Better Suited**

Remus had just gone to get Augusta and the house was starting to settle down, at least for the moment.

Harry was sitting in his room looking out of the window when Hedwig landed on the window ledge.

She had been hunting and felt a sense of distress from her human so she left her hunt and headed back straight away. She jumped off the ledge and onto Harry's shoulder.

"Hedwig, "He sighed, "Probably my only real friend the last four years."

She looked up at him questioningly. "Dumbledore was draining my magic girl. The Weasley's were in on it too." He stroked her feathers absentmindedly. "It makes me question everyone. Who was a plant and who wasn't. Who was put in front of me and who wasn't?"

Harry let out a huge sigh.

"Ron claimed there was nowhere else to sit on the train when he found my compartment. What are the odds that I found the last empty compartment on the whole train to sit in and all the others were totally full? It wasn't even five minutes later he knocked on the door. He must have followed me." He had stopped petting Hedwig and was staring back out the window in a bit of a trance. Hedwig looked at him wide eyed.

"Hermione just kind of barged in without asking and never went away. If Dumbledore could get to the Weasleys surely he could get to the Grangers, they don't have any magic to defend themselves against him. But Remus and Sirius said something about the Weasleys they didn't say anything about the Grangers."

"On top of that what other friends did I really have until Neville? I let Hagrid and Ron convince me that all the Slytherins were bad before I even got to school; I have to admit that before last year only about five of them were actually mean to me. The rest just kind of treated me with a bit of spiteful indifference but I wasn't exactly the King of Kindness myself."

Harry sighed. "I've been really stupid actually girl." Hedwig nipped his ear affectionately. "Everyone who really tried to talked to me from the other houses I discounted as fan girls or boys."

He leaned back hard into his chair. "But what else could they be really? I never really gave them anything else to know but what they read other places. I never had real conversations with them so what else would they know. So I guess that I really don't have anybody else to blame to but myself."

Hedwig hooted a little angrily.

"Ok, it might not be _all_ my fault but I certainly did not do myself any favors did I?"

Hedwig hooted her agreement.

"I didn't need you to agree with me. I was berating myself just fine lady." Harry laughed as his owl glared at him. Harry gave her an owl treat to appease her. "Only joking love."

Then he heard a knock at the door, it was Neville. "Hey Bro, just coming to check on you." Harry waived Neville into the room.

Neville came in and sat on the chair next to Harry, but when he saw Hedwig he started to feel kind of nervous. She didn't look very happy with him. Harry followed his eyes to his owl.

"Oh sorry about that Neville." he smirked, "We were talking and it's usually a private conversation." Neville got up to leave when Harry grabbed his arm and held him in his place.

"Hedwig, before you glare a hole in him, I found out Neville isn't just a good friend. Neville is my God Brother." Owls eyes got big.

Harry laughed at her expression."That's right he is family so please don't make him wet himself."

Hedwig jumped off of Harry and onto Neville's lap and analyzed him. Neville sat there looking back at her. After about five minutes Hedwig nodded her approval and nipped his finger in an apology. Neville seemed to understand and scratched under her beak.

"Don't get too friendly over there Neville." Harry mocked. "She's mine."

"Keep your knickers on Harry, it's not my fault I'm likable." Neville laughed.

"So..." he looked at Harry expectantly.

"I'm looking back and thinking about what was real and what was fake. To tell you the truth Nev, I have no bloody idea. If the Weasleys were in on it, it makes a lot of coincidences seem like thought out plans. If Ron was in on it then who is to say Hermione wasn't. Then it just snowballs from there."

"Well we know the Weasleys knew but no one said anything about the Grangers. Seeing as they are non magical I can't see what real purpose they would serve. Have you ever even met them?"

Harry nodded, "Just one meeting at the train nothing more than that."

"As far as Hermione goes, I really don't know what to tell you." Neville said.

"Yeah, that would just be the end of things between her and me if she did. I still haven't responded to that letter she wrote." Harry said reaching on the desk to retrieve it. "Right now I don't even know what to say. Yesterday I would've been trying to forgive her for making a mistake. Today I'm wondering if it really was a mistake or if this is part of some plan."

"You trust people until they give you a reason not to." Neville said. Harry looked at him blankly.

"Dumbledore has given you reasons not to trust him and has never once admitted a mistake. Ron has given you reasons not to trust him time and time again. He apologized but you and I both know the apologies weren't sincere. Up until last year has Hermione ever really given you a reason not to trust her? And the time that she did she at least had decency enough to try and apologize for it."

Harry raised his eyebrow curiously. "That is sure a pro forgiveness speech from a guy who doesn't like Hermione."

Neville threw his hands up. "I am not blind Harry, I can see you miss her. I saw it all last year. Just because I don't like her previous actions doesn't mean I would tell you not to forgive her." Neville pointed his finger at Harry's chest. "My liking her has nothing to do with this, and for your information with me it is just a conflict in personality. Hermione is closed minded, she thinks with blinders on. She can't accept things she can't verify with a book or a set of rules. Shocking to me really when you think about the fact that we live and work with magic. Especially seeing as until her eleventh birthday she did not even know magic existed. But, up until last year she tried to be a good friend to you. As your friend and your brother I want you to be happy. Right now whenever she is involved you don't feel happy. You need to fix that."

"I don't know how I feel about her anymore. Every time I think about her I get upset and angry. It just wells up inside me and it is so hard to control. I want to yell at her and scream at her, but at that same time I want to hug her and keep her with me. It's so frustrating."

"But that is what I am saying Harry."

"Just what are you saying?" Harry asked.

"I'm saying you feel something Harry, and if you feel something then there is something there. Deal with it, if for no other reason than to be done with the feeling. No one feels that much anger and hurt unless they actually care. You care about her, you are emotionally tied to her, but at the moment you don't trust her. Talk to her; yell, cuss, scream, then ask all the questions you want answers to from her. Once you talk to her then you'll know if whatever feelings you have for her are strong enough to move on with your friendship. If not, then you'll know all you need to know before you drop her and move on. But don't ignore the feelings because you don't want to deal with them, and don't put off writing the letter that you know you want to and need to write."

Hedwig gave a supportive hoot to Neville after he finished. She knew she liked him.

The two boys sat there in silence for a while. Harry was trying to get through what Neville had just said to him.

"Alright Neville. I'll write it tonight and send Hedwig out tomorrow."

"Good, I'll leave you to it then." Neville left the room.

After about half an hour later Harry was interrupted in his writing by Tonks. Remus and Augusta had just arrived, about two hours later than when Remus left, much to the relief of the others at Black Manor. Neville was the first to his Gran to give her a hug when she entered. Followed next by Sirius who came to met her.

"Welcome to my home Lady Longbottom." He said taking her hand.

She waived him off, "Let the nobility stuff pass this time Sirius we have important things to discuss." She said making her way to the couch in the sitting room.

Remus, Sirius, Tonks, Neville, and Harry all followed her into the room. Once they all took a seat Tonks was the first to speak.

"Two hours later is hardly immediately Remus." She spoke anxiously. "What happened?"

"Dumbledore is what happened." Augusta said with disgust. "The old man chased me out of the Atrium at the Ministry and hounded me for thirty minutes. Then when I finally left he called my flow constantly until I would talk to him."

"Why was he so persistent?" Sirius asked.

"He doesn't have the support he thought he had." She explained. "First of all his allies in the ministry are few and far between. The little speech he gave today did not endear him to anyone. He came in going on and on about Voldemort being back and how terrible it was. It was really just a waste of breath if you ask me because half of them supported Voldemort the last time, but that was just par for the course. He really got started when he began the smear campaign on Sirius and Harry."

"Me?" Harry said shocked "He tried to smear me?"

"In a way dear," Augusta gave him a sympathetic look. "He tried to slaughter Sirius. He called him a menace. He talked about how on top of the Dementor security he had to put up extra precautions to try and keep him away from the school after he escaped. He claimed you made multiple attempts on the lives of the guards he had posted undercover."

Sirius was visibly irritated. "He claimed that since you have escaped there has been three wizard killings. He said he had documented proof that your magical trace was the only one around when the bodies were found."

Sirius pinched his nose in annoyance."Just who exactly were the three wizards I killed?"

"Travis Knott, Sylvester McNair, and Joseph Parkinson."Augusta answered.

"Why that no good snake!" Remus banged on the table next to him. "Those were the three Death Eaters we killed in the Order raid on the McNair mansion. Dumbledore said we were going there because he believed they had the magical artifact that allowed Voldemort to survive outside of a body."

"Yeah it was the only raid he let me go on. I remember him saying he wanted me to go on that one specifically." Sirius added.

"I offered to stay and get rid of all our traces before the Aurors arrived," Tonks spat, "but he assured me that he would take care if it so I didn't risk the chance of being caught by Amelia and losing my job."

"Hold on a second." Harry chimed in. "Voldemort used Unicorn blood to keep himself alive, that and other people's bodies. When I was in the forbidden forest first year for detention we found one drained."

"So we raided the house for nothing!" Sirius said.

"Well not nothing." Augusta said, "Obviously Albus got what he wanted. He got three more murders to put on you should you try to step out of line."

"Bastard." Remus snorted.

"He also informed the ministry that Sirius sent Harry letters claiming falsely that he was Harry's Godfather."

"But he is my Godfather!" Harry yelled.

"Yes, but Dumbledore had your parents' will sealed when he became your magical guardian, so there was no actually documentation of that being so." Sirius said.

" Albus tried his best to convince us that with Harry being a very kind and forgiving child who desperately wants a family, he might actually believe Sirius would do him no harm."

"So he painted Harry to look like he was easily manipulated?" Neville asked.

"Well he wouldn't be that far off." Harry sighed. "Look at the last four years."

"He also alleged that it would take magic of the most dark sort to break the defenses he set in place to protect Harry at home. Magic that would surely be against the law to use."

"He had that right, it took us hours didn't it Moony. But we weren't the only ones using dark magic. Some of those wards were of an awful sort." Remus nodded.

"Dumbledore claimed that last year Harry was so overcome with anger at being chosen for the tournament that he started taking an interest in the dark arts. And now that he was potentially in the hands of Sirius he might be taught the dark arts and fully embrace them. He tried to scare us into believing that with Sirius influence you might become a dark wizard."

"Well isn't that just great." Harry scoffed. "Can't imagine what the papers will say about me now after all this. Headline reads, Harry Potter New Dark Lord."

"Please Harry, in the papers you go from Hero to Dark Lord every other week." Neville said. "That is hardly the important part."

"It did not have its desired effect, seeing as there are Death Eaters on the Wizengamot that would love to hear they had new allies in Black and Potter. And Bones and Scrumigar wanted to know how he knew about the three murders when that was highly classified and sealed information. His objective was to increase aruor presence and observation to get you two, he wanted unspeakables to go be assigned to your case, and he called for Sirius to be kissed on site f found. We blocked theunspeakables and the kiss but Amelia was adamant about sending extra aurors out.

"Ok not bad." Remus said, "the press will kill Harry but we can deal with that."

"I can try and get Moody, Kingsley, and myself to get stationed wherever I know you guys need to go. "Then he tried toconnivence me to join the order again. He said he could use my diplomatic influence."

"What did you say Gran?"

"I told him as diplomatically as I could to go get bent." the group laughed.

"So Sirius that means no outside for you unless absolutely necessary, and if you do we are going to have to do some major glamour work." Tonks said.

"Is their anyway we could get to Amelia?" Sirius asked. "Try to make her see the light."

"Amelia is Ministry through and through. She is not going to admit the ministry is a sham until she has no other choice." Tonks answered.

"I agree." Augusta said. "Amelia worked from the bottom up through the Ministry to get where she is and you don't just break that kind of loyalty."

Sirius let out another sigh.

Then she jumped as the ring on the pinky finger of her left hand began to heat up. It turned yellow and Tonks knew what that meant.

"Dumbledore is calling an emergency meeting now. I have to go." She said rising.

"Tonks," Remus said turning to her "mental shields at full strength and be careful."

Tonks smiled at him a small blush coming onto her cheeks. "Don't worry Wolfe, I'll be alright."

"Cheers all. I'll be back tomorrow to update you." With that Tonks left the room.

"Remus where do they meet now that the order is banded from here?" Harry asked.

"Hogwarts." Remus answered.

Augusta sighed. "You know we are going to have to start training these two." She pointed at Harry and Neville.

"They might be in for a fight every time they go outside." She added.

"Well between the three of us we should be able to teach them a couple things." Sirius said smirking the two boys.

"I don't like the sound of that." Neville said to Harry.

"Yeah but it might be fun." Harry said back.

"Lady Longbottom, can I offer you a room for the night?" Sirius asked.

"You sure can Sirius. Something tells me Albus won't be giving my flow a break anytime soon."

Everyone then got up and went to their rooms.

**2 am that night.**

Everyone in the house was asleep but that was about to end. Nymphadora Tonks was irate and everyone in Black Manor was about to know about it. She threw open the door and stalked into the house. Flaming red hair to match the currently crimson red eyes made her outward appearance appropriately match how she was feeling. She slammed the door behind her and went straight to the kitchen.

Remus and Sirius because of their animal instincts were the first to awake. Harry and Neville were awaken by the sounds of dishes slamming on the counter, and Augusta who was awake anyway was in the library when she heard Tonks enter.

They all came down the stairs with their wands drawn, all while Tonks was yelling below them, and entered the kitchen carefully.

"Tonks what are you doing!" Sirius said breathing a sigh of relief when he saw his cousin.

"I am trying to calm the bloody hell down!" she yelled. "And that lousy good for nothing house elf of yours won't answer me. Kreacher!" She yelled towards the door.

She threw up her hands when again the elf didn't answer her. "To hell with it, where do you keep the bloody tea Sirius." She turned and glared at him and Sirius took a few steps back.

"Umm allow me won't you." Sirius replied. "Kreacher!"

The elf popped into the kitchen. Bowing he mumbled, "Someone worth answering finally be calling Kreacher."

Tonks dove at the elf but Remus caught her and pulled her over to the kitchen table. "I am a Black by blood you stupid elf. Did you not hear me call you? I know you did you big eared hunchback back!"

"I don't haves to answer to you red haired lady. Do I looks like I takes orders from mudbloods?"

Tonks jumped out of the chair Remus had just put her in. "I'll chop of your head and put it next to that old windbag of a mistress you love so much, and I will pull out the three hairs left on your head before I do.

"Would you please get us all some tea please?" Sirius said calmly to Kreacher as he tried his best not to laugh at his cousin and the elf.

Remus forced her back down as the others joined her at the table. "They have to go at it all the time. My goodness this is a bother."

"You aints gots no say here Nymphadora." Kreacher said with emphasis as he dodged a hex she sent his way as he placed the tea on the table.

"I'll cut your tongue out you wrinkly old pisser. Call me that again."

Kreacher mumbled something unsavory under his breath.

"What?" Tonks yelled.

Neville, Harry and Augusta looked on with shocked expressions. Remus was rubbing his temples and Sirius was chuckling.

"Would you like some sugar in your tea?" Sirius offered the assembled group. When no one answered him he went on dishing some out to everyone.

"You not a Black, how dare yous insult my mistress." He ducked another hex from her and sent one flying himself.

"Sirius aren't you going to do something about this?" Augusta asked.

"Surely," Sirius said grabbing a bottle off the table. "Would you like some milk?" He asked offering it to her.

She glared back at him. "Fine, fine. I thought since we had to get up at this ungodly hour we should at least get a good show out of it."

He put the tea down and stood up. "Kreacher leave the now kitchen and do not return until everyone has left." Kreacherpopped away.

"Tonks calm down before I hex you." He looked at her with the glare only a Black could give and Tonks begrudgingly sat down.

"See, nothing to it." Sirius said calmly going back to his tea.

"Tonks do you want to explain now why we are up so early and why you look like a cinnamon lollipop?" Remus asked.

"Albus, leader of the light my ass, Dumbledore." She answered. "You won't believe what has ordered us to do." Then she went on to tell the story.

**Hogwarts 4 hours earlier.**

Dumbledore sat at his desk impatiently. He had called an emergency meeting twenty minutes ago and all his order members had arrived except Tonks. She was the person he wanted to see most. She was the closest to Sirius other than Remus and she was close to Remus as well. If Sirius was in hiding it was a pretty good bet Remus was with him and the odds were pretty good Tonks knew where they both were. She was also on patrol the night before Harry left with Sirius.

Tonks was certainly involved somehow but she was making it increasingly hard to get to the facts. She had, after Sirius and Remus left, stopped talking to him about anything that did not directly involve the order. He knew she had answers. He could not probe her mind or put traces on her because she was an auror and knew occlumencyand probably could detect tracking charms. On top of that if the order found out he was doing these things to one of them he could have a mutiny on his hands. Well, for some not all. TheWeasleys, Hagrid, Minerva and others would stay, but Kingsley, Moody, and Diggery would leave for sure and he needed them. Still, he needed to prod her tonight after the meeting, he needed Harry back and he needed him back immediately. He also needed Sirius dead as soon as possible.

The floo network lit up with green light and Tonks entered the office.

Dumbledore quickly adjusted his face to look happy as he greeted the young metemorph.

"Hello Nymphadora." He smiled but Tonks did not acknowledge him. That agitated him.

"I said hello Nymphadora." He said a little more forcefully.

Tonks turned to Minerva and spoke loudly so all could hear. "Professor do you like it when people call you Minnie?"

Minerva eyebrows rose two levels. "People have been cursed for doing so." She replied.

"Do you answer to it when people call you by that?" Minerva shook her head. "Do you think someone calling you a name you have constantly asked them not to call you is a lack of respect or the failing mind if an Old man?"

"Miss Tonks," Albus said correcting himself. "You are late." Tonks then turned to face him.

"Oh, hello professor." She faked a smile, though not very well, and took a seat. "I'm not late professor."

"Yes you are Tonks." Albus argued. "I called this meeting twenty minutes ago."

"Please understand that I am an auror and sometimes I have business to attend to that, heaven forbid, takes priority over you. I am putting my job at risk doing this and sometimes Albus you might have to wait. Twenty minutes isn't that bad considering you called out of nowhere. And since you're taking this time to argue with me instead of starting the meeting; it must not be that much of an emergency."

Moody chuckled out loud. "She's got a fire to her she does." he leaned over and whispered to Kingsley. "I like it."

Molly Weasley had a look of absolute disapproval on her face. "Young lady that is Albus Dumbledore you are talking to. It would do you well to show some respect to your elders and superiors. If you cannot do that maybe you should leave."

"Bye." Tonks said rising out of her seat.

"No!" Dumbledore quickly said. "It is ok Molly we are all a little bit on edge. Please take your seat Tonks."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and began his monologue. "Now as some of you know, I went to the Wizengamot to try and get them to help us find Sirius and get Harry back. They have agreed to put some extra Aurors on the case but that was the only request I made they agreed to."

"What other requests did you make?" Tonks said looking angry at him, knowing he asked to have Sirius kissed on sight.

"It is not important at the moment as none of them were agreed to." Albus answered smiling at her. "The point is that it falls to us do to whatever is need to get Harry back safe."

"What makes ya think that he ain't safe? Sirius is his grandfather why would he hurt Harry?" Moody asked.

"He took him from the place he was safest Alastor and at the most dangerous time. Now that Voldemort has a body he is going to come after Harry and Sirius can't protect him."

Tonks snorted earning her a glare from Molly. _"He's doing a good job so far, even you haven't found him yet."_ She thought.

Dumbledore glanced at her but chose to ignore it. "It is my fear that all those years in Azkaban did more damage than originally thought. As we know Sirius was in the last few months very moody and emotional and prone to outburst. We further know he has knowledge of much mark magic and has used some of it recently. Some of the spells he used to get by my wards were very dark."

"Well if I were locked up for a crime I didn't commit for twelve years, then forced into hiding, then made a prisoner in my own home I'd be moody too. Wouldn't you professor?" Tonks asked.

"Yes I quite agree but if I then became reckless and a danger to others I would be as guilty as Sirius is now." Albus countered. "Now since the ministry won't give this matter the attention it really needs it is up to us to do so."

"What is it that you are suggesting we do?" Kingsley asked.

"Find Harry by any means necessary." He then pointed to a red head that was leaning against the door to his office. "This, as most of you know, is Bill Weasley. He is a professional curse breaker. He and I along with a few others that I have asked are going to go to Number 12 and try to get by the charms on the house and break in."

That statement gained him many sideways glances and raised eyebrows. "I know this is extreme but none of us have been able to enter there since the day Harry was taken correct?" He asked staring directly at Tonks.

"Well then because of the wards and charms on the house it is quite possible to believe that he and Harry are there."

"And what if Sirius smarter than a fifth year and figured out that was the first place any of us would try to look." Moody asked.

"That is a definite possibility." He sighed. "Which leads me to my other plan of action, we need information and leads. I am lifting the ban on non lethal and legal spells."

Everyone gasped. "Albus you can't be serious?" Molly said. "We can't use the same weapons that we are fighting against."

"It is for the greater good we can and will. Harry s going to play a key role in defeating Voldemort and we need him safe until the time we need him to act."

Molly looked like she wanted to argue but she did not.

"I want you all to carry truth serum on you at all times." Albus said levitating about twenty small bottles to himself. "I want you to track down anyone who has seen Harry, Sirius, or Remus in the last month and give it to them to get whatever information you can."

"Hold on a minute." Kingsley said, "I did not join up for this group to baby sit Potter. I joined to hunt down Death Eaters and Voldemort because I don't think the Ministry is doing enough. This wasn't in the game plan. You know this is absolutely illegal Albus. We are Aurors we can't do that, we took an oath to protect." Kingsley said.

"Precisely, we are doing this to protect Harry. The greater good is for the whole community and we are protecting that also. You all joined the order to make sure we stopped Voldemort. Harry is essential to doing that. So we must be willing to do everything to get him back."

Albus was getting angry he was not accustomed to having his commands questioned. He took a second to collect himself. "However, I do not want you to worry about that Kingsley. I don't want you, Alastor, or Tonks to be a part of this, I have other jobs for you."

"As for the rest of you, anyone who won't take it willingly; bind them, stun them, even imperio them if you must." Albussaid.

"Albus that is extreme." Minerva said.

"For the last time **I KNOW** it is extreme but is has to be done!" Albus lost control and his magic flared temporarily. The flare however quieted the objections for the moment.

"Now you, Kingsley, I need you to step up your work in the DMLE. Anything suspicious that has to do with Death Eaters or Sirius I want full copies of not just verbal reports anymore. We need more information."

"Albus I don't know if..."

"**JUST DO IT!"** Albus yelled interrupting him. "If anyone catches you obliviate them."

"No." Kingsley said back.

"Excuse me?" Dumbledore asked as he clearly hadn't heard right.

"I said no, I am not going to 'step up' anything and I am not going around obliviating people who don't give me what I want. You have no right to ask us to do these things and no authority to authorize it. I know I vowed to fight Voldemort but I did not vow to do things like this. I will not be party to any of this."

Kingsley grabbed his wand from the holster and headed towards the exit.

"And if I hear of any of you going around giving truth serum to anyone I will do my duty as an Auror. Albus I am no longer an order member." And with that he stormed out of the office.

Dumbledore wanted to go out after him but he still had things to dictate to the rest of them. He would deal with Kingsley soon enough.

"Tonks I want you and Moody to track magical signatures for me. Remus, Sirius, and Harry. If there magic shows up anywhere I want it known. I also need you, now that Kingsley has declined to be are lead intel collectors at the Ministry.

"Wait a minute." Tonks said holding up her hands. "Are we just suppose to move on like that didn't just happen."

This was not what Albus wanted to discuss and he was really becoming enraged. "Yes we are going to move on! Kingsley has obviously lost perspective and doesn't understand that the Greater Good is at stake here. I know the means might seem extreme at the moment but the ends will justify them."

"Sounds rather Maciavellian to me." Tonks retorted, "Wasn't Hitler the last one to use that?"

"Enough!" Albus shouted. "I know the things I ask if you may seem immoral or unnecessary at the moment but I remind you we are fighting a dangerous foe. We are the people standing against genocide and total dictatorship by an evil person. At times like these we have to pick and choose our weapons but rest assured you cannot walk into a sword fight with a butter knife. I know all of you can understand that."

He looked around and saw many faces that looked like they did not understand that but all of them stayed quiet.

"Now if you feel like Kingsley did then get out, give up on the fight on the light side, but remember that we are the only group that is making any progress and we are standing for what's right whatever you might think of us." He was glaring at Tonks. "Make sure if you do leave you consider what exactly it is you are leaving."

When no one said anything or moved he calmed down and continued to talk.

"Well then, that is all I have. Now I am sure you all have much to do just like me. So you are all dismissed, please bring me some good news as soon as possible." With that everyone left his office.

"Tonks would you please stay for a while?" Albus asked.

"No I don't think I will. I'm doing enough for you as it is." With that Tonks left the office as well.

**End of flashback.**

Everyone at the kitchen table looked angry enough to do some serious damage to Mister half moon glasses.

"I don't get it, are we fighting a Dark Lord or supporting one?" Remus said out loud.

"He can't possibly do this." Neville said "How can't he even try to represent himself as a light wizard and then do something like this?"

"We have to take this memory to the ministry." Augusta said.

"Why?" Remus asked. "They won't even entertain the idea of Voldemort being back, how much stock do you think they would put in this?"

"I was ready to quit right then and there but the look in his eyes and the things he was saying, Albus is diving into very dark Territory and we need to know what he is really thinking about." Tonks said.

"What did Moody say to you after? Sirius asked.

"He said he was going to do try and get enough evidence of Dumbledore's snooping that they can finally take him down. But until then he is going to stay and try and lead him down false roads."

"Well it is clear to me that there is one side who is trying to rule with violence and another side that is trying to rule with manipulation." Remus said. "We need to fight both of them."

"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Augusta asked.

"When I had to go underground all those years I met some very interesting beings who are not inclined to follow Voldemort but would fight against him if they food a leader or group they could trust. You'd be surprised how many people dislike Dumbledore." Remus had a very determined look in his face. "It's time I made contact with some of my old friends."

"I agree" Sirius said with a sinister grin. "There are a lot of old families that didn't fight with us specifically because of Dumbledore. With this information I'm sure they would happily burry him and then stand with us to fight Voldemort."

"I agree and I know many as well." Augusta said. "It's seems as if we are better suited to lead the resistance than Albus is."

"I am also going to call in a few specialists I know to help us train and teach these two some things about fighting." Sirius smirked.

The group stayed up the rest of the night amassing people and creatures they could call on. Neville sat there very interested in learning about all the people who didn't like Albus Dumbledore.


End file.
